New Rules and New Romance
by Kiba91
Summary: This story is for Yue, who needs more romance in her life. I only own Atsui Dekitane, a character I created. I don't own Negima or any of its characters. That honor belongs to Ken Akamatsu
1. Surprises for Everyone

This story is for Yue, who I think needs a bit more romance in her life. The character Atsui Dekitane is totally made up, but if this actually happened in the anime or manga, I'd love it even more. Anyway, I do not own Negima or any of their characters. That honor belongs to Ken Akamatsu.

**Surprises for Everyone**

Okay. I'm terrified and excited at the same time. Why? Because I'm the first male student to ever attend Mahora Academy. My name is Atsui Dekitane, and this is my story. About a week ago, I pleaded with the dean to give me a chance because Mahora was my only option, and since he knew about my past (no idea how, though), he allowed me to take an entrance exam. The deal was to make no less than an 80% on it, and I made a 100%. After I receive my official enrollment papers, I nearly jumped for joy.

Before I left the dean's office, a young red-haired boy with glasses wearing a suit walked in the room. Imagine the look on my face when the dean told me he was my new homeroom/English teacher. And according to the kid, he was the least of the surprises Mahora had to offer. I honestly didn't know whether to be excited or terrified, so I chose both. The dean asked Professor Springfield if there was anyone he would recommend in 2-A for me to shadow for a few months. After thinking for a moment, he smiled and said "I've got the perfect student for you to shadow!"

He pulled out a small notebook with the class roster and showed me a picture of a girl with a blank look and blue hair that was in braids in the front but split in two in the back. He pointed to the girl's picture and said, "This is Yue Ayase. She is one of the smartest students in my class and a member of the school's Library Club. She will be an excellent student for you to shadow." I raise my eyebrows for a moment before nodding my head. "Alright. So, how do I find her?" The dean then cut in. "I would check around the library. That's where she seems to spend most of her time." I bow my head to both the teacher and the dean as I make my exit. "Thank you, sir. I promise not to let you down." The dean then lightly chuckled. "I'm sure you won't. Oh, and one more thing." I turned around and looked back at the dean. "Be sure to tell Yue that you will be rooming with her and her friends whilst you are here." I'm rooming with 2 or 3 other girls? Oh, Lord. "Um…of course, sir. Have a good day." "And you too, Atsui."

I left the room and couldn't help but smile with glee. I am the first male to ever attend this school as a student. How lucky am I? I pick up my bags and leave the building in search of the library when I see a young girl with dark hair and bangs covering her eyes. I remember seeing her in the roster just a few minutes ago, so I run over to her. "Excuse me! Could you tell me where the Library is?" She looked at me with such terror that I thought that she was going to faint, but instead, she turned around and ran like the wind, leaving me behind and very confused. 'What did I do?' I wondered to myself.

I started walking in a random direction, hoping to either find this Yue Ayase or the library. It didn't take long. After about 5 minutes of walking, I spotted her reading on a nearby bench, and my eyes widen slightly. 'Wow, she's even cuter in real life.' I walk over to her and stop in front of her. "Excuse me. Are you Yue Ayase?" She looks a little wary of me but nods. "Yes...and you are?" "I'm a new student here. I was just enrolled officially this morning." She relaxes a little and stands up offering her hand for me to shake. "Well, pleasure to meet you. Welcome to Mahora Academy." I shake her hand and can't help but think about how soft her hand is. "Thank you. The pleasure is all mine. And Professor Negi Springfield told me that I'm to be your shadow for a few months. Is that okay?" She raises her eyebrows a bit. "Professor Negi told you, huh? Well, if he says you're my shadow, then you're my shadow. Want me to show you around?" I nod my head. "If you could show me to the library, I'd really appreciate it." "Alright. Follow me."

She turns and starts walking while I walk next to her. "Yue, can I ask you something?" "Go ahead." "Um, why did you look suspicious of me when you saw me?" She glances over at me. "I'd have thought it was obvious. we don't see too many guys here, especially teenagers, so I was wondering what you were doing here." Why did I not guess that? Of course she'd be suspicious, it's been an all-girls school since it first opened up. "Oh, right. I forgot. Sorry about that." She shrugs, not seeming to care. "It's no big deal. I may as well ask: do you read books at all?"

If I hadn't met her 3 minutes ago, I would've laughed my head off. "Oh, hell yeah. I'm even writing my own romance novel." She looked surprised when I said that. "Are you serious? Your own romance novel?" I can't help but nod my head proudly. "Yup! I have 2 copies in hardback, too. You wanna read it when you get a chance?". She smiles, and damn she's pretty when she smiles! "Sure. I love a good romance novel now and again. So does my best friend, Nodoka." For some reason, I can't help but think of that girl with the bangs over her eyes who ran away from me, so I ask, "Does she have dark hair with bangs coming in front of her eyes?"

She looks a little surprised. "Yeah. You know her?" I hesitantly answer, "Um...sort of...I more or less met her a few minutes before finding you." She starts looking a little worried. "What happened?" "Well, I asked her if she knew where I could find you or the library, and she started looking more scared than a mouse in a cat factory, then ran off faster than the wind." She seems to relax a little, but sighs exasperatedly. "That's her alright. She's always had a problem with the opposite gender. She never told me why, but she has for as long as I've known her." I can't help but feel sorry for the girl, so I shake my head a little sadly. "Wow..." "Yeah.." Before my first meeting with the girl I'm shadowing turns dark and dismal, I decided to lay the craziest news of the day on her. "Um, Yue? There's something the dean wanted me to tell you." She looks at me curiously, urging me to go on. "Well, I'm not just your new classmate and student shadow. I'm your new roommate."


	2. Harsh Talks

**Harsh Talks**

"I'm not just you're new classmate and student shadow. I'm your new roommate." Her eyes open up so wide, I start getting worried that her eyeballs won't be able to stay in their sockets. "Our roommate? Are you serious?" I nod a little nervously. "Uh-huh. Look, I'll sleep on the floor by the door, and I have blindfolds, and I don't snore. Not since I had my tonsils removed a few years back." She holds up a hand to get me to shut up. "Look, it's alright, dude. And we have a spare bed in another bunk. But keep those blindfolds handy, just in case." I almost breathed a sigh of relief when she said that. I really wasn't looking forward to sleeping on the floor, but it was their room, and what they say goes.

"Okay. Um, I don't know why I feel I should tell you this, but it's my 15th birthday tomorrow." She looks at me and smiles again, which causes me to blush. Again. "Then that means you're gonna have a party tomorrow." I widen my eyes at the thought of a party. I haven't had a birthday party since I was 7, and I don't wanna feel like a kid anymore. Those days are way over. "Uh, thanks for the offer, but no thanks. I don't even know why I told you that." She puts a stoic look on her face and just shrugs off what I said. "Dude, you're having a party whether it was your birthday or not. 2-A always looks for an excuse to throw one. And not only are you a new student, but you're the first male student ever to come here, and it's your birthday. No way in hell are you not getting a party, so deal with it."

To say that I was surprised by what she said would be an major understatement. I can already tell that she isn't used to me, yet the way she talks to me, you'd think she's known me for years. I think it's about time I got a little closer to this girl, not that I didn't have plenty of time as it was. Guess I'm impatient today. "So, off of that subject, I hear that you are in the Library Club here. Is that true?" She nods and looks at me. "Yeah. Why, you wanna join or something?" I looked at her and did my best not to blush. "Why yes, actually I would love to join." She looks ahead and still keeps that stoic look on her face. "Well, you'll have to ask Nodoka. She and I are in charge of it, and we make our decisions as a team. And given the fact that you're a boy, your chances aren't that great, so I wouldn't get my hopes up."

Ouch. Harsh. I looked a little sad after that. Not 10 minutes into my new school and I'm already on the "Piss Off" list. Story of my life. "Well if you didn't want me to join, you didn't have to be so mean about it. Jeez..." She gives me a sideways look that looks somewhat irritated. "I thought guys were supposed to be big and macho." I actually chuckled at that one. "Heh, not me. I can hold my own in a fight, but I'm not a macho man. I'm more of a pacifist than anything. If it were up to me, I'd spend the rest of my life working in the library, playing online, and reading books."

Once again, I see a surprised look on her face. "Really? I didn't think you liked books all that much." "Didn't I tell you that I'm writing a romance novel?" "Oh, right. I forgot. Sorry." I breathe a heavy sigh. "No, it's okay. I'm pretty used to it." Now she looks curious. "Used to what?" "Being stereotyped, gossiped about, and my favorite, just plain disliked for no reason." For a fleeting moment, I could have sworn I saw a guilty look on her face. Just as she was about to say something, we had arrived at the library. That place is freaking huge! I've lived in towns smaller than this place! But before I get too caught up in the library's size, I go over to the door and open it for her. "Ladies first.". She actually smiled again. "A gentleman, I see. Not too many of those around anymore. I'm impressed." As she walked inside, my face started heating up again, only this time, it was way more noticeable. Why in the hell is she making me blush so much? All she did was smile and compliment me. Something tells me that this is going to be one interesting year. I follow her inside to get a taste of what Mahora Academy had to offer.


	3. Join the Club, Maybe

Join the Club...Maybe

I follow Yue inside the library and I can't help but gasp. I have died and gone to reader's heaven. I swear I've seen whole towns smaller than this place. I walk to a table, set my bags down on the floor, then sit in a chair and look at her. As she looks back, she gives me a questioning and a somewhat irritated look. "What? Something you need?" I've decide that I've had enough of her attitude, so it's time to lay the cards out on the table. "Well, yes, actually. Would you please take a seat? I would like to talk to you." She gives me a look that says 'I'm watching you, buster' as she walks to the table and sits down across from me. Time to settle this.

"Yue, did I offend you or anything like that since I met you a few minutes ago? Because I've been my best to be polite, and you act as though you think I should just leave and never return." She folds her arms and looks a bit standoffish to me. "Well, to tell you the truth, I don't know what to think. I'm sorry if I've been a little testy, but I haven't seen a boy my age in a few years now." Now I get it. She's been with girls for so long, she doesn't know what to make of me. I should have guessed that. "I see. Well, I would like us to start over and be friends, if that's okay with you. I can tell you're nice, when you aren't so mean, that is. So, can we please be friends?" We look into each other's eyes for only a few seconds, maybe a minute, but it feels like hours. She looks at me as though she's seeing into my very soul, and I gotta say, I'm getting a little unnerved by it. But eventually, she relaxes her gaze.

"Alright. I apologize for making you feel unwelcome. I normally don't act like that. Of course we can be friends. Long as we forget that the first few minutes happened and we start over." I can't help but smile. "I would love that." I take a glance around. "And speaking of loving things, I love how big this library is." She glances around as well and smiles a little. "Yeah, it is really nice. These bookshelves go on for miles, so if you wanna get lost in books for a few hours, this is the perfect place for it. Not to mention, if you wanna hide from the girls that are gonna start chasing you, for some reason, they never look in here. Professor Negi hides in here with Nodoka all the time. Whenever they start chasing him, he somehow gets them off his trail, then heads here to work the library and read a couple of books with us." I couldn't help but think for a moment.

"Yue, does Nodoka possibly have a crush on our 10-year-old teacher?" She looks at me as though she's surprised I figured that out so quickly. "Yeah, she does. Why?" I shrug. "I think it's cute, actually. I bet if they dated, they'd make a really cute couple." She raises her eyebrows a bit. "You think so too, huh? I've been trying to get her to tell him how she feels, but she's just too scared to do it. Poor thing." My heart starts feeling weird, but I ignore her and keep talking. "So, you said I need her consent before joining the library club?" She nods. "Yup. Both she and I are in charge of it, so you need both of us to say yes before you can join." I nod while thinking 'In that case, I am screwed'. I then glance over at the counter where I see her on the computer. How I didn't notice her earlier, I don't know, but I figured I may as well ask.

"Well, I guess now is as good a time as any to ask." She looks at me confused before I nod over at the counter where Nodoka is working. "Well, what do ya know? There she is. You'd better stay here." She gets up and goes over to Nodoka and talks to her. After several minutes, several surprised expressions and glances at my by both of them, Yue walks back over to me and sits back in her seat. I know this means trouble for me. "Okay, here's the deal. Nodoka is absolutely terrified of you, but wants to give you a chance, in spite of that." I know there's more. "But I don't feel right making her uncomfortable because of someone she can avoid. Then I told her that you are also our new roommate, and she nearly fainted." I had a feeling that's what that was about. "She also said that since you're our new roommate anyway, the sooner she gets used to you, the better. So you're in." I can tell by the look in her eyes that there's something else, so I nod, urging her to finish.

"But I will warn you: if you do anything to her, I swear I'll unleash the full madness of Class 2-A on you. Do we have an understanding?" I am so glad that I'm housebroken. I can only nod slightly to hide how terrified I was. "Yes, I understand." "Good. Now, I'll show you how the library club works." We both get up from the table and go over to the librarian's area. She walks over to the computer table in front of the counter and I notice a relatively large stack of books on the table. "Tell me, have you ever cataloged a book before?" Are you kidding? Every school I went to involved me working with or as the librarian. But they don't need to know that much yet, so I just nod slightly. "You add the book's name, author, and ISBN number into the computer then put them back on the shelves, right?" They both widen their eyes at how easily I answered that. "Y-yeah, basically. The hard part is remembering where all the sections are for each book, so we have sheets of laminated paper on the end of each shelf that labels what the author's last name and genre of the book each book goes to."

Good thing, because if they weren't, it would make the job SO much harder. "Gotcha. Do those books need to be cataloged or put away?" She glances at the books, then back at me. "Nodoka already cataloged those, so we need to put these back." As she starts to pick up a large pile of them, I can easily see that she's struggling, so I couldn't help but take the books out of her hands. "I got these, Yue. Just show me where they go." I gotta admit, these things were HEAVY! But I wasn't about them to let them know that. "Just lead the way, Yue." She looks a little surprised, but puts her stoic look back on her face. "Alright, this way. See you in a few minutes, Nodoka." Nodoka doesn't even turn around.

"B-bye, Yue." "Thanks for letting me join the library club, Nodoka." I didn't even need to see her face to know that she was flustered as hell. "N-n-n-no p-p-p-p-problem!" Told you I didn't need to see her face.

I follow Yue over to one of the massive shelves and set the books down on the floor. I'm about to grab one and put it away, but apparently, Yue had the same idea. We accidentally grab each other's hand and look at each other. If you thought I blushed when I saw her smile, my face turned crimson when I felt how soft her hand was and looked into those deep purple eyes of hers, so I let go and look away as quickly as possible while taking a book off the top of the pile. "Sorry bout that." I was hoping against hope that she either didn't see the blush, or at the very least, wouldn't ask about it. Guess what happened. She folds her arms and says, "Hang on a minute. You just had a huge blush on your face. Why?" Dammit. "Blushing? I don't know what you're talking about." I keep trying to sort the books back in their rightful places, but she grabs my wrist and pulls me so that I'm looking at her again. "The books aren't going anywhere, but my patience is. Why...were...you...blushing?" She leans in and I back up into the bookshelf, and at that point, I knew there was no way out of it other than to tell the truth because I can tell that she can smell a lie a mile a way. "Well..."


	4. These are my Confessions

These Are My Confessions

"Well..." That look on her face is making my knees buckle. What is it with this girl? I only met her today and I already have a crush on her-...so that's it...I like her...now I KNOW I'm in trouble. How in the hell did I get myself into this mess? A better question, however, would be, how in the hell do I get myself OUT of this mess? No way can I tell her that I like her. For one thing, she won't likely believe me anyway. And on the off chance she does believe me, not only does she hate me, it'll make being her roommate REALLY awkward. Well, here goes something.

"Well, to be honest, I've always been kinda shy around girls. They generally avoid me, so I don't have a lot of experience interacting with them." I figured this should work. It's more or less the same problem she said she had with me. She leans in a little closer and looks deeper into my eyes, and my whole nervous system is going overtime. "I don't believe you." Well, that explains that. "I can tell that you're lying. Now I'm giving you one more chance to tell me the truth. Why…are…you...blushing?" Damn this girl was good! This is bad, very bad. If she leans in much closer, someone would swear we were kissing. Oh no! My face is heating up again! What do I do? Now she's glaring at me. "You're blushing again." Let's see if the pity card will work.

"Y-Yue, why can't you just leave it alone?" She narrows her eyes a bit. "Because I'm curious. Now are you gonna tell me or not?" I really, really, REALLY don't wanna tell her. But I may as well come clean so I can have a good reason to avoid her. A damn good reason. So I inhale and exhale through my nose and finally come clean. "Alright...I've had a crush on you since I first laid eyes on you. That's why I blush every time we touch or get close to each other, much like we are now." Her eyes widen and she backs up into the bookshelf across from us. "...A-are you serious? If this is some kind of sick joke, I'm not laughing." I can't help but roll, my eyes. "I don't joke when it comes to matters of the heart, Yue. As ridiculous and pointless as it seems, I actually like you...a lot. So go on and tell me how there's no way in hell you'd ever date me so we can get these books sorted already."

I turn away from embarrassment, then hear the sounds of footsteps getting closer and the next thing I know, she's turning my face to look at her. "Now what makes you think that's what I'm gonna say?" I look a little surprised by her actions...and by what she said. "Well, because no girl wants to go out with a freak like me." Her eyes widen a bit. "Freak?" "Well, all the girls I know consider guys who's minds aren't in the gutter at all times freaks of nature and should be avoided at all times." She leans in and kisses me on the lips and my body is going nuts! After a couple of seconds, I finally close my eyes and lean into the kiss and hug her waist while she puts her hands on my chest. As I hold her a bit tighter, she grips my shirt tightly in her hands, and before long, we break the kiss for air, but we keep holding each other and looking in each other's eyes.

She finally speaks. "I guess the feeling was mutual." Wow! Now I'm happy I came here! But something puzzles me. "Then why did you act like you hated me?" This time, it's her turn to blush. "Well, because I didn't wanna admit it until I figured out if you liked me or not." I couldn't help but chuckle at that. "So you hated me to hide the fact that you like me?" She nods with an embarrassed look on her face. "Pretty much." I couldn't help but smile, so I suggest, "Can we just forget that happened and just be friends? Or a couple, if I'm not pushing my luck?" She smiles at me. "What do you think?" We lean in and kiss again. As I hold her close, I can't help but get over how small warm she is. We slowly break the kiss and look at each other while smiling. "We're a couple now, aren't we?" She gives me a devilish smirk that almost makes my knees buckle. "Damn right, pretty boy." 'Pretty boy', huh? I could get used to that.


	5. I Don't Want to Cause Trouble

"I don't wanna cause any trouble..."

After we make our romantic status official to each other, she pulls away and heads back over to the books. "Alright, time to get these books sorted." Back to business as usual, I guess. I start grabbing books one by one and sorting them back where they belong, all the while giving Yue a sideways glance. Man, that girl is cute! But during a few glances, she happens to glance right back, our eyes meet, then we blush, and turn away while trying to look busy. I guess she really does like me. After about 15 minutes or so, we finally get the books sorted and we start walking back to the main area of the library. I decide to break the awkward silence between us and ask her a question.

"Say, Yue?" She turns and looks at me. "Yeah? What's up, Atsui?" "Well, I was just curious if you were going to tell anyone about...you know...us?" She actually giggled at how nervous I was. Did she actually find humor in my embarrassing, awkward moments? "Well, I'm definitely planning to tell Nodoka and Haruna, but other than that, probably not." I nod my head in approval. "Sounds good to me. I just hope they approve of me." Yue folds her arms and looks at me. "They will. They seem to like you, and even if they didn't, they'd have to get used to you for my sake." I got a little nervous at this. Was she really willing to put her friends through such changes for my sake? "I don't wanna cause any trouble, Yue. If there's a possibility that they won't approve yet, why don't we just wait on telling them for a while. Besides, as far as they know, you can't stand me. It'd be kinda weird for you to go from seeming to hate me to being my girlfriend in the span of half an hour. They'll think I blackmailed you or something."

Yue looks like she wants to counter, but after thinking for a few minutes, I can tell she realizes that I'm right about this. She then looks a little defeated, which makes me feel a bit guilty for some odd reason. "Fine, Atsui. We'll wait a while to tell them. But no more than two weeks. We'll just say that I got to know you and started liking you, which is actually the truth. Sound good to you?" Are you kidding me? It's perfect! This way, it'll seem much more natural, and less suspicious. "Sounds perfect, Yue. Now let's head back. I'm sure they'll be back already." She nods her head, but gives me a nervous smile. "What? Something on my face?" She walks right up to me and stops about an inch in front of my face. Needless to say, my face has turned a very bright shade of red at this point. That's when she says, "Nothing. Just my lips." Before I even know what's going on, she's kissing me, then I start kissing back. Just an innocent, yet somewhat passionate, minute and a half kiss. My god, her lips are so soft…and she tastes like chocolate and strawberries.

After we pull away, we both have a hazy look in our eyes as we look at each other. My god, she's just so beautiful. For some reason, her eyes widen a little, but then she smiles and rests her head against my chest. I wrap my arms around her as she says, "Glad you think so." Now it's my turn to widen my eyes. Can she read minds or something? "Did you just read my mind, Yue?" I hear her chuckle a bit. "No, you said it out loud." I raise my eyebrows at this. She has some serious power over me. I just hope she doesn't realize that. "Did I? Oh, jeez.." She giggles a bit, which makes my face even redder. "Don't worry so much, Atsui. You're a nice guy, and I like that about you. You're nothing like those idiots who only want to sleep with their girlfriends. You actually care, and that's an amazing trait that you have." I smile and hug her closer. "Thank you, Yue." We just stand there in a warm embrace, just enjoying each others company, until we hear a shy voice. "Y-Yue? A-Atsui? W-what's going on?"


	6. Acceptance

Acceptance

Yue and I both look at where the voice came from, and low and behold, it's Nodoka. We quickly exit the embrace and look at Nodoka and each other, wondering just what the hell we were supposed to do and/or say. For a few moments, a very tense and awkward silence passes between the three of us, until Yue finally decides to speak. "Uh, Nodoka? I know he and I just met and all, but Atsui and I are kinda a couple now." I glance back at Nodoka and she has a look of pure shock before she lowers her head so we can't see her face through her bangs. Oh, no, if she cries or gets upset, I don't think I'll be able to stand it here…and I don't even know the girl that well!

She walks over to us very carefully and calmly and stood in front of us for a moment. At first I thought she was gonna hit me or something, until she grabs both of us in a huge hug and says, "I'm so happy for the two of you!" I wonder if Yue can read minds because she voiced my exact thoughts at the moment: "You mean, you're not upset or anything?" "Of course not! You're my best friend, Yue. Why would I be upset? I'm so happy that you found someone like Atsui." My eyes widen as I take my chance to talk. "If I may ask, what do you mean by someone like me? Just curious." Yue interrupts, "I think she means how sweet, kind, and cute you are." Widen eyes, insert crimson blush. Nodoka then lets us go and smiles at us, which I realize is absolutely adorable. I may be with Yue, but a very hidden part of me (which will stay hidden) will be very jealous at the lucky bastard that wins her heart. She seems like such a beautiful soul, just like Yue. Then again, they are best friends, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that they're similar. For now though, I'm satisfied about being Yue's new boyfriend, and Nodoka being supportive of it.

Just then, Yue looks at me with a very unnerving smirk on her face and says, "By the way, Nodoka, Atsui here is turning 15 tomorrow." My eyes open as wide as they can go as I look at Yue in disbelief. "Yue!" She just smirks at me. "What? I told you we were gonna have a party for you, whether you like it or not." I roll my eyes and look back at her. "I was kinda hoping you were gonna forget about that." She keeps smirking. "Not a chance, shy guy." Nodoka brightens up at this. "Happy birthday, Atsui! We simply must have a party for you tomorrow evening." Yue then says, "I already told him he's gonna have a huge one. What with him being the first male student in Mahora Academy history, being a new student period, and his birthday being tomorrow night, it's gonna be one of 2-A's biggest parties ever. And we're not gonna take no for an answer, either." I give a sigh of resignation. "Fine…have the party."

Yue looks at me curiously. "I don't understand why having a party is such a negative for you. We already told you that it's no big deal." I look away at this, memories starting to haunt me. "I'd rather not say, Yue. It's not something I like to think about, much less tell anyone." I can tell Yue feels sad for me, even though I'm not looking at her right now. "Atsui, it's okay. You don't have to tell us if you don't want to. Just promise that you'll tell me before you graduate, okay?" I really don't wanna tell her period. "Yue…" "Promise me, Atsui!" I guess she'll make me tell her sooner or later anyway. So I look into her eyes and promise that I'll tell her before I leave Mahora Academy. Nodoka then pipes up again. "Good. Now that we have that straightened out, shall we start planning for the party?"


	7. Gifts and an Idea

**Gifts, and an Idea**

It takes Yue, Nodoka, and myself to carry all my presents inside the room and plop them down on the floor. "Man! I'm not used to celebrating my birthdays, but I made out like a bandit this year!" Yue and Nodoka smiled at me as Yue said, "Told you that you'd be popular, didn't I?" I smirk at Yue with a bit of a smart-alecky look. "That you did. So you girls gonna help me open these or do I have to do it myself?" At that moment, Haruna came in with a video camera and shut the door behind her. "You're opening them yourself, of course! And I'm gonna record the whole thing! Battery's fully charged, so we got a good 5 hours!" I couldn't help but chuckle at Haruna's energy. I thought artists were supposed to be the silent types.

I shake my head at the thought and open my first present, which came from Yuna. "Nice, a Mahora Academy basketball uniform, and my own basketball." Yue then comments, "How original of her. I guess she's asking for a one on one." I chuckle and move on to the next one. "Okay, from Kazumi and Sayo…a camera with 5 rolls of special film that allows me to see Sayo through the lens. I may as well ask, did all the girls give me gifts based on their personalities?" Yue takes a sip from her juice box then says, "Yup. Pretty much." I nod my head.

"Alright. By the way, what flavor is that?" She looks at her juice box to read the label. "Banana and chocolate. Want one?" Banana and chocolate? No flipping way! "Did you forget already, Yue? I'm allergic to banana." She widens her eyes before looking apologetic. "Oops! I'm sorry, Atsui." I just wave it off. She just offered it, not shove it down my throat. "Ah, no big, Yue. On to the next gift." The next gift is from Misora: a book on basic and intermediate yoga positions and breathing techniques. After revealing this, Nodoka finally speaks up by saying, "That's going to come in handy. I've tried yoga a few times, and it really is relaxing afterwards." I nod for a moment; yoga will probably come in handy. The next gift was actually pretty shocking to all 3 of us.

"Chachamaru got me something too? Now this I've gotta see!" Now, I'm not exactly sure, but I could've sworn I heard Haruna zooming in with her camera at that point. "Now this is perfect for me: a book on how to build my own personal desktop and laptop computers, and she even gave me some software to install into them! I gotta thank her later!" Haruna then pipes up again. "I wonder if Evangeline even knows about this. Wouldn't it be hilarious if she got you a gift too?" Nodoka then cuts in again. "Actually, she did. She gave it to me to give to Atsui whenever he opened Chachamaru's gift." We all gasp at that one. Then Haruna says, "Seriously? Then give the damn thing to him already!" Nodoka then hands me Evangeline's gift and I hastily, yet carefully, opened it. I actually laughed at this one.

"She gave me two books: 'Cooking the Perfect Ramen for Dummies' and 'Brewing the Perfect Tea for Dummies'. I don't know about the tea thing, seeing as I don't like tea, but I will most definitely make use of the 'Ramen for Dummies' book." Yue then says, "Don't tell Evangeline that. She loves being served tea in the Japanese Tea Ceremony club. She probably thinks you'll wanna make her some or something. But why she gave you one on ramen, I have no idea." Haruna says, "It may have been Professor Takahata. You know how he is about his ramen." Once again, Nodoka pipes in. "Actually, they serve ramen in the Tea Club as well, and she loves it almost as much as her tea." Yue then says, "Well that explains that."

For the next half hour, I continue opening the gifts that Class 2-A graciously gave me. Including a cookbook from Satsuki, a 'Drawing Manga for Beginners' book from Haruna, a samurai katana from Setsuna (one of my favorite gifts, seeing as I love swords, katana swords in particular), and even better than the sword, I received a pair of Beretta M92 pistols with two boxes of special bullets for exorcising supernatural beings from our dimension from Mana, which I've wanted for quite some time now. Now why, you may ask, would I want a handgun? Or better yet, why would Mana want to give me a pair of handguns? Well, I don't know about her, but I've heard that there are occasional dangers that lurk the academy, so it's always best to be prepared. Besides, it's certainly a great silencer and peacekeeper.

Anyway, back to a few of the gifts. One was a book on Ninjitsu techniques and exercises from Kaede, both Satomi and Chisame gave me software and firewall programs for my computer (when I build it), and what I got from Yue and Nodoka was the best: the choice out of any 10 books to keep for myself from the school library, including Library Island. So all in all, pretty awesome gifts, a great party, and I am now exhausted. But do I get to clean my stuff up and head to sleep? Well, I thought I would, until Haruna says, "Hey guys, what say we pull a prank on the Class Rep?"


	8. Opening of the Heart

**Opening of the Heart**

"Hey guys, what say we pull a prank on the Class Rep?" Now, I like pranks as much as the next guy, but I'm not too sure on pulling a prank on the Class Representative. I only met her once, but I already know that she's not one you wanna mess with. "I'm up for it." "Me too. It sounds fun. What'd you have in mind, Haruna?" I look over at Yue and Nodoka in complete disbelief. I thought that these two would be way more well-behaved than that. "Are you girls serious?" Yue smirks at me, and I already know what she's gonna say. "Scared, Atsui? I thought you'd love to have some fun on your birthday." I knew she'd say something like that. I don't wanna look like a chicken, but I also don't wanna get in trouble. "Girls, if we get caught, I'm placing full blame on you three, and saying I was just a witness, got it?"

Haruna just laughs, and the two quiet girls chuckle. "Atsui, honey, we won't get caught." I look a little caught off-guard for a moment, so I ask Nodoka, "Did Haruna just call me 'honey'"? Yue answers, "She always calls people names like that. That's just how she talks to people." I nod my head. "Ah. Well, I'd still rather not pull a prank on anyone just yet. I'm not that settled in yet to where I can start pulling crazy stunts. Maybe a little later in the year when I get to know the class a bit better." They all nod at my statement. I guess they understand. "Alright, Atsui-kun. I understand. Let's just chill here for a while and record you enjoy your new gifts." I smile towards Yue at how understanding the girl is. I think being her boyfriend will be a great pleasure. "Long as you guys enjoy these with me. There's way too much here to have fun on my own."

Haruna then says, "How about we play that Nintendo Wii you got? I love the sports game that comes with it." We play Wii Sports for a good three hours, making Mii characters that are based off of each of us. Haruna and Nodoka eventually go to bed, and I head to my top bunk, and just as I'm about to catch some Z's, who else do I see but Yue popping her head at the edge of my bed. "Hey, Atsui-kun, can I talk to you for a minute?" I'm a little surprised, but I'm certainly not gonna say no. "Sure, Yue. Hop on up here." I lean back against the wall as Yue comes next to me. I then grab my covers and pull them over us so we won't be cold. It's about 73 degrees in that room, so it's safe to say we could catch a cold if we aren't careful. "Thanks, Atsui-kun." "No problem, Yue. So, what's on your mind?"

She actually looked sad, and nervous at the same time. "Listen, Atsui-kun, you said that you didn't wanna tell me why you disliked celebrating your birthday so much, but I honestly don't know if I'll sleep tonight because I'll be up all night wondering and worrying. Please, Atsui-kun…tell me what's wrong." At this point, I nearly started crying. I can't remember the last time someone was so deeply concerned about me. I look down feeling guilty for keeping this secret from her. "Yue, can you promise not to tell anyone except Nodoka?" "Of course not, Atsui-kun. Now tell me what's wrong." I'm silent for a good minute before I say anything.

"Yue, this isn't easy for me to say, but there's something about you that tells me I should tell you. I'm an orphan. Ten years ago, on my fifth birthday, my parents and I went to a really nice restaurant. We were in the parking lot after dinner and the next thing we knew, we were being jumped by some mugger with a gun. Dad tried to fight him, and mom and I tried to escape. But the gun went off, killing my dad, then he killed my mom. By that time, someone came from inside the restaurant and disarmed the mugger. But it was too late. Dad was shot in his right lung, and mom in her heart. Ironically enough, dad was a champion at track and field in high school and college, meaning he had high endurance and breath control. And mom, well, she was one of the kindest women you could ever want to meet. And every birthday, I never want to celebrate because it reminds me of the day I lost the two people who loved me the most. That's my big secret."

I looked over at Yue, and she was actually shedding tears. "Oh, Atusi-kun!" Next thing I know, she buries herself in my arms, steady crying her eyes out. The only thing I can think of was to hold her in my arms as tightly as possible. After about 5 or 6 minutes of her crying, she looks up at me. The only thing I could think of was how absolutely beautiful this girl is. Even though she's crying, she's just so beautiful. "A-Atsui-k-kun, I-I'm so s-sorry! I-I h-had n-no idea!" I just hold her more tightly to me. "Yue…please don't cry for me. I'm not worth it." Yue looks at me like I'm crazy. "Are you crazy?" Guess that explains the look. "That's the most tragic thing I've ever heard. You should've told me, Atsui-kun!" I look away. "It isn't your burden to bear, Yue-chan. I don't want you to worry yourself over something you can't control."

She then puts her head on my shoulder and whispers in my ear, "Maybe I can't bring your parent's back, but I can help you now. You don't have to bear this burden alone, Atsui-kun. I want to be there for you when you need someone. And I know we just met, but, I…I-I…" I pull her back just enough so I can see her face, then I gently touch her chin and tilt her head up so I can look into her eyes. "What is it, Yue?" She looks like she's about to cry again. "I-I love you, Atsui-kun! I love you so much!" I am in absolute shock, but I'm so happy, that I lean in and plant a gentle kiss on her soft lips. We stay like this for what seems like forever before separating and I pull her into a tight hug. "I love you too, Yue-chan. For so long, I've been alone. But thanks to you, I don't think I'll be alone again anytime soon, if ever." Even though I can't see her, I can feel her smiling. "Good, because you won't be alone, Atsui-kun."

She then snuggles a bit closer and I hear her sighing blissfully. "Atsui-kun, you're so warm." I couldn't help but chuckle lightly at this. "I guess my name matches, huh?" She chuckles as well. "Oh, yeah. Listen, feel free to say no, but can I sleep up here with you, Atsui-kun?" Now, I know what she means and what she doesn't mean, but I can't help but blush at this. Mainly because the only time I've ever shared a bed with someone was with my parents when I couldn't sleep. But, I decided to let her, knowing that she didn't have any "intentions". "Sure thing, Yue-hime." She raises an eyebrow at this. "Hime? Since when am I a princess?" I smile at her. "Since I realized that I'm no longer alone." We lay down on my pillows (I sleep with two pillows) and I pull her into another hug. "Atsui-kun, how is it that you're so warm?" I just smile again. "It's my namesake, remember? And I think I was really warm when I was born, which is why my mom named me 'Atsui'. Good night, my beautiful princess." I kiss her on her forehead and she smiles at me. "Good night, my handsome prince." She then snuggles closer as we fall asleep.


	9. Evangeline

I woke up feeling really warm, then I look next to me and see Yue curled up in my arms, sleeping silently. I would have freaked out if I hadn't remembered that we confessed our feelings to each other last night. I quietly get up, trying not to wake her up, then climbs down off the top bunk. It was right as I set my foot on the floor that I realized that Yue was a light sleeper, because I hear her on the top bunk saying "Morning, Atsui-kun." I look up and see her poking her head over the bed with a smile on her face. I look up and smile back at her and say "Good morning, Yue-hime. Sleep well?" I see her face light up as she says, "The best I've slept in years. You?" She climbs down the ladder as I say "Best sleep I've had in my whole life. Especially since…well, you know." She nods sadly at my statement, then walks into my arms as I hug her. For about a few minutes, all we did was stand there holding each other, enjoying each other's warmth. I then gently pull her off and smile at her. "I'm okay now, Yue. Let's just forget about that for a while and go and enjoy the day. As I understand it, class resumes on Monday, right?" That beautiful, yet small smile of hers comes back as she says, "Yeah. You'll find a lot of the class hanging around various places today, but we often meet up at Satsuki's and Lingshen's dining hall. Her food is always awesome." I couldn't help but chuckle at this. I've had Satsuki's food, and it is delicious. Hopefully she'll teach me a thing or two, seeing as I love to cook.

"Yeah, let's get cleaned and dressed. I'd also like to get to know our class a bit better. You go first while I pick out an outfit." She smiles at me and nods then walks to the bathroom to get showered and stuff. Meanwhile, I pick out my outfit: black dress pants, black dress shoes, white dress shirt with a black tie. I know, I may look like I'm trying too hard, but most of my outfits make me look like I'm going to a job interview or something. What can I say? I like to dress up. After Yue exits the bathroom, I go in to shower, brush my teeth, brush my hair, and put my clothes on. When I come out, Yue's wearing a blue sweatshirt with burgundy shorts, white sneakers, and a red headband that seems to pull her hair from in front of her face. I smile at her as she wolf whistles at me. "Get a load of you, Mr. Dressy. Got a job interview?" We both laugh at her joke. I knew I was dressed like I was going to an interview. "Nothing like that, Yue. I always dress up like this. By the way, where are Nodoka and Haruna?" I notice that their beds are empty and we're the only ones in the room. "Oh, they had library club stuff to do this morning and it's my day off, so we have the whole day to hang out." I couldn't help but smile at this. "Awesome." We head out the door to get ready for our day. However, had I known what was going to happen to me, I'd have stayed in bed. Or at least not come outside the room, for I was gonna be for the shock of a lifetime, and it was not gonna be pretty.

We headed over to the outdoor dining area where Satsuki and Lingshen were working their magic on breakfast. I was a good 150 feet away and I could still smell how delicious that food was. I swear when breakfast is over, I'll ask her to make me her apprentice. Yue and I sit down at a nice spot with an umbrella in the middle of the table so we have some nice shade. We talk about things I may expect out of class 2-A as a waitress comes over and takes our orders. As she walks away, I feel a shiver up my spine that makes me jump a bit. "You okay, Atsui-kun? You look nervous or something." I just shake my head. "It's nothing, Yue-chan. Just some random memories I don't wanna talk about right now." I don't even need to look at Yue to know that she saw right through my lie, but she caught that this wasn't the time or the place to push the subject. We silently wait on our food while all the while, I'm wondering where that chill came from. It was like someone was watching me and my body was warning me to be on the lookout. About three minutes later, I found out why. I looked to my left and there was a girl with blond hair and the most piercing emerald eyes I've ever seen in my life. However, that's not what worried me, at least not as much as the next feeling I got. I couldn't break eye contact with her, almost like her eyes had some kind of hypnotic ability on me.

She then starts talking to me, breaking me out of the trance. "You're the new student, correct?" I nod slowly. "Yeah. My name's Atsui Dekitane. You're Evangeline A. K. MacDowell, right?" She then gives me a smirk that really makes me nervous. "So, you know me already? I'm flattered. I know you're…busy," She casts a glance at Yue that doesn't look all that friendly. "but I would like to speak to you for a moment…in private." I could do one of two things: politely decline and go on with my day but risk offending her, or speak with her in private to see what she wants and get it over with. You can probably guess which I should do. "Alright. Yue, if the food comes and I'm not here, just eat without me, okay? I won't be long." If you guessed what I think you did, then you should be wondering if I were an idiot. I wanted to decline, honest I did. But there was something that made it physically impossible for me to say no. We walk away from the dining area to a place that looks like an alley, and already I'm getting really nervous. And for good reason. I was in a dark alley with a girl I didn't even know but already gave me the creeps, and things just kept getting worse. Before I could even blink, I was on the ground and I felt something pierce the left side of my neck. Then it hit me: this crazy chick was biting me! I seriously think she was a vampire, who had set her sights on me being her next prey. I wish I were right. If I were the meal, I'd just be dead, but what happened was actually worse. I felt myself drifting into unconsciousness, but before I'm completely out, I see those dangerous emerald eyes staring at me again as she says, "You're mine, boy. You're mine for the rest of eternity, and there's nothing you can do about it." I then felt something soft forcefully pressing my lips, and I realized that this girl is kissing me, but as she is, I felt some sort of energy seeping into my body. I didn't have time to contemplate this though, because at this point, if fallen unconscious, under the full mercy of this dangerous girl.


	10. Recovery

**Recovery**

I wake up to what appears to be some people staring at me. Ugh, my head is killing me right now, as well. As my eyes adjust, I realize it's Yue, Nodoka, and Haruna staring at me. "Atsui-kun!" Yue shouts as she falls on top of me and wraps her arms tightly around my neck. "Atsui-kun, I was so worried about you!" As thankful as I am for Yue worrying about me, I tap her shoulders and mumble, "Yue, it hurts." She immediately gets up, realizing that I was in pain. "Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" How can I even answer that when I don't even know what's going on? But still, I tell her, "Y-yeah, I'm alright, Yue. Anyone mind telling me what happened, and how long I was out?" As I sit up, I notice the look of hesitation on the girls' faces. This can't be good. "D-don't get upset, Atsui-kun," I look over at Nodoka as she speaks. She looks like what she has to tell me could potentially set me off. "Y-you've been in a c-coma f-for…" I look at her getting nervous at what she doesn't seem to want to say, and for good reason. "For 2 and a half weeks, Atsui-kun." Needless to say, I was a little surprised.

"2 AND A HALF WEEKS? ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Okay, outrageously shocked beyond all reason. I then feel Yue holding my arms, trying to calm me down. "Atsui-kun, you've gotta take it easy!" I start calming down once I see the worried look in Yue's eyes. The last thing I ever wanna see is that look from her, especially if I'm the one causing it. "I'm calm, I'm okay now. Now someone please tell me, how and why I was unconscious for nearly 3 weeks." I look around and see Yue looking away, but I still caught a look on her face. The look in her eyes actually scared the hell out of me. She looked ready to commit bloody murder. I've never seen a girl look that angry. Even Nodoka and Haruna exchange nervous looks. My guess is they've never seen her like this either. "Yue? Tell me. What happened to me?"

Yue seemed to calm down a bit as she looked back at me. "Professor Takahata was the one that found you. He said that some stalker girl had attacked you and tried to rape you when he stepped in. But I finally dragged it out of him that it was Evangeline who attacked you. She tried to make you a vampire, but Professor Takahata cured you and put you under a spell that made sure that you wouldn't wake up until you were completely recovered from it. Needless to say, it took everything I had, along with Nodoka and Haruna's help to not find that bloodsucking leech and tear her apart." She had that look again. Jeez, she is SCARY with that look on her face. I think it's about time I calmed her down, so I did something only a boyfriend would do. I grabbed her cheeks and kissed her something fierce. As soon as I hear the door close, which was only a few seconds later, I slowly release Yue from the kiss.

I know I did my job when I saw the look on her face. She looked content, as though she completely forgot about what she told me not even 30 seconds ago. She looks into my eyes as I talk. "Yue, I know you're upset, but I'm okay now. I'm fine, honest. Let's just forget about it, okay?" For a few minutes, all we do is stare into each other's eyes, then she smiles that beautiful smile of hers. "Alright, Atsui-kun. But I'm telling you now, if it happens again, I'm stealing your gun, loading it with silver hollow points, and going vampire-slaying. Got it, pretty boy?" I couldn't help but chuckle. This girl was too damn much, but that's why I loved her. "Got it, Yue-hime." Then, Nodoka and Haruna come back into the room and smile at us. "Hey ladies, what do you say we get out of here and have some of Satsuki's cooking? I'm starving here." Yue, Nodoka, and Haruna all agree and let me get up. "I'm gonna get up and clean up, so I should only be about half an hour." They all nod and start reading the copies of my book that I gave them, and as I go to the bathroom and get ready to go out with the girls, I realize one thing: I've been subconsciously holding my bladder for nearly 3 weeks straight.


	11. Good Game, Bad Meeting

**Good Game, Bad Meeting**

It's been about a week since Evangeline attacked me and things are going well. She apologized to me when I saw her after my first class with 2-A, and we buried the hatchet. Despite the fact that she tried to turn me into an immortal creature of the night, I'm not one to carry a grudge. It's Friday as I head to my final class of the day, Gym. The dean hadn't figured out the uniform situation for me yet, so I was free to go around in anything school-worthy, like jeans and a sweatshirt. I usually wear gym shorts under my pants, so all I did was drop my jeans, pull off my hoodie, fold them up, and place them out of the way before I'm ready to go. The general rules for Gym here are show up in proper attire (shorts, shirt, sneakers, white socks), and do some type of exercise for a majority of the period; rules I have no problem following.

I start with my warm-up of 30 push-ups and 30 sit-ups before I grab the basketball Yuna gave me for my birthday and start shooting around. After about 15 minutes, Yuna comes up to me. "Hey Atsui!" I look over to her. "Hey, Yuna. What's up?" "Nothing much, just wanted to know if you wanted a little one-on-one." I chuckle a bit to myself because Yue actually guessed that Yuna would want a game with me. "Sure, why not? Go easy on me, though. I haven't played in a while." She giggles a bit at my request. Are all the girls here this cute? Maybe it's my hormones or something, so I just ignore the thought. "Sure thing, Atsui. Game to 20 sound good to you?" I nod at the suggestion. "We'll go by 2's and 3's like a normal game playing half court. Cool?" She nods again as we head to the foul line and I hand the ball to her. "Ladies first, Yuna." She giggles again. "Why thank you, kind sir."

As we start playing, I can certainly see why she's captain of the basketball team. She's quick, agile, and she plays to her strengths. But then, so am I. One specialty of mine is being able to see how my opponent operates and adjust my game plan on the spot. I can see she favors getting in close for a layup or a dunk, and when she's at a distance, she tries to power through or cleverly maneuver around my defenses. Too bad for her, I'm best at defense and long range shots. The score quickly goes to 17-19 with her in the lead, and it's her ball. "You're not half bad, Atsui. We should play more often." I chuckle a little at the compliment. "Thanks, Yuna. I can see why you're captain of the team, but unfortunately you're about to lose." She smirks at my confident remark. "We'll see about that."

She goes for the final point, only this time she decides to switch it up and shoot from the 3-point line. I don't know why, maybe she was trying to show off, but I ran after the ball, praying for her to miss, and she did. I take the ball back to the 3-point line as she puts up a much better defense than before. I double pump and fake her out, shooting for a 3-pointer of my own. It feels like it's in slow motion as the ball makes its way over to the hoop. 'Come on, baby, come on…' I silently think to myself, a moment later, I hear a defining 'swish' and I know I won. "Boo-yah!" Yuna sighs a bit, but smiles and we shake hands. "That was a sweet game, Atsui. Maybe you should think about playing on the team. We could definitely use you." I smile a bit at the offer. "I'll think about it. It sounds tempting." She smiles a bit and starts walking off. "Thanks for the game, Atsui! See ya!" She and I wave to each other as I gather up my clothes and bag before heading out the door.

I walk out of the building, intending to head to the dorm and shower before meeting Yue and Nodoka at the library, but of course, my luck isn't that good. "Well, well, well. It looks like the rumors are true. Mahora is no longer an all-girl's school." I look to my left and I see about 6 or 7 girls looking over at me. From the height and the color of their uniforms, my guess was that they were from the high school area. "Yeah, I just started a few weeks ago. Is there a problem?" The girl in the middle giggles with a hint of maliciousness. "Not at all, cutie. In fact, we were wondering if you wanted to hang out with real women instead of those little brats for a while." By this point, I start getting a little mad at the way this chick was acting. "First of all, they aren't brats. They happen to be very good friends of mine. Second, I wouldn't be caught dead with a gaggle of old hags like you. And third, find someone else to harass because I've got no patience for it." All those girls give me the most evil glares I've seen in a while, but it's nothing to fear. As a last resort, I've got one of my pistols in my pocket, but I'm hoping it wouldn't come to that. "Ugh! This isn't over, you bastard!" She snaps her fingers as her girls follow her obediently back in the other direction. I sigh quietly in relief as I head back to the dorm.


	12. The Game Part 1

**The Game Part 1**

Once I made my way back to the room and take a nice hot shower, I change into my grey sweats and start playing Wii Sports. It was about half an hour later that the girls walked into the room, smiles on their faces. "Hey Atsui-kun! We're home." I pause the game and hug them all. "Welcome home, girls. How was your day?" I let them girl and plop on the couch as Yue and Nodoka sit next to me and Haruna sits on her bed. "It was pretty good, Atsui-kun. We worked in the library after school. Did you forget we had a meeting?" I suddenly remember and slap my forehead. "Aw, dammit! I'm so sorry, girls. I was gonna head there after I took a shower, but I had a run-in with some high school bitches that really took it out of me."

They all gasped and got worried, asking me what happened. "I'm alright for the most part, since they didn't touch me, but I had to act like an asshole before they'd leave me alone." Haruna sighs a bit. "I know what you mean. They're all crazy as hell and never seem to leave us alone. I hope they didn't bother you too bad, hun." I shake my head a bit at her statement. "They didn't bother me as much as they could've I guess, but they insulted you girls by calling you brats." I smirk a bit. "But then I called them a gaggle of old hags. Then they got pissed and walked off." The girls laugh when they hear what I called them. "But I don't wanna talk about that anymore. Can't we all just play the Wii for a bit? I need to work of my stress." They all nod and change into something more comfortable (luckily I have my blindfolds). Once they're all comfortable, we all start playing the different Wii Sports games. After a few hours, we turn the Wii off and settle down, just chatting and laughing about random things.

Haruna then looks over at me. "So, Atsui-kun, what's this I hear about you beating our star captain in a little one-on-one?" As I widen my eyes at how she already knew that, Yue and Nodoka look over at me in shock. "You beat Yuna, Atsui-kun?" I look over at Yue and shrug a little modestly. "It was just a friendly game in Gym today. She almost had me, though. If she hadn't gone for that last 3-pointer, she probably would've won." Nodoka then pipes in. "Even so, she's a really good player, and the fact that you beat her must mean you're practically a master." I blush a bit at the compliment. Honestly, I thought they were blowing this out of proportion. "It's really not that big a deal. Besides, I asked her to take it easy on me. Who knows, maybe she threw the game to make me feel better." Haruna then starts giggling like she knows something. "That's not what she told me, sweetie. She told me after you scored your third 3-pointer, the gloves came right off and she went full force. She took that last one because she didn't think she'd get through your defense again. You beat her fair and square at her best, hun. No getting around it."

I look at Haruna with my mouth wide open as Yue and Nodoka stare at me. I couldn't believe it. I thought she threw that game with that last shot. I knew she turned up the heat a little bit at one point, but I didn't think she was going full force on me. Maybe I'm not as rusty as I thought… "Well, Atsui-kun, I guess you're the basketball star of 2-A now. You plan on going for the team?" I shake my head and lean against the couch. "Not likely. I don't think I'd be a good fit. I'm better in a one-on-one. Besides, I'd rather be with you girls in the Library Club." Haruna laughs and hugs me from the side playfully. "Aw! He loves us! He really loves us!" The girls all pile on top of me as we laugh our heads off. "Get off me, I can't breathe!" They all get off and we keep laughing. I hadn't felt this happy in a long time; not counting when Yue and I got together. Once we all calm down, we all decide to head to bed. "Good night, Nodoka. Good night, Yue. Good night, Atsui." "Good night, Haruna. Good night, Yue. Good night, Atsui-kun." "Good night, Nodoka. Good night, Haruna. Good night, Atsui-Kun." "Good night, Yue-hime. Good night, Haruna. Good night, Nodoka. Good night, John boy." We all start cracking up at my cliché but ever-hilarious joke before going to sleep.

I wake up early the next morning around 6:30 like I often do. I creep out of bed, change into my workout clothes, and leave the room, locking the door behind me. I head down to the track and put my headphones on and start stretching. As I turn my mp3 player on and start jogging, I notice a few other girls are up jogging as well. Mainly those who are on a sports team, as I see some from the swim team, many from the track team, and a few from the basketball team as well. Once I finish my jog, I head back over to the room and walk in as the girls were talking. They look up at me in a slight shock as Yue asks me, "Where were you, Atsui-kun? We were starting to get worried that Evangeline may have stolen you in the middle of the night or something." I smile knowing that they care this much about me. "I'm sorry I worried you girls, but I just went out for my morning jog." They all nod, and I swear I thought I saw Yue and Nodoka sigh a little bit.

"Like I said, I'm sorry for worrying you girls. Let me shower and I'll take you all out to eat." They all smile and agree, and I hit the shower to clean off the sweat from my run. A few minutes later, we were all headed to Satsuki's place to grab breakfast. We all place our orders and start chatting about our week while we wait. As we talk, I see Yuna coming over to our table. "Hey guys!" We all greet her. "Hey Atsui, there's gonna be a 5-on-5 game later today. We'd love it if you played with us. Please?" I think about it for a moment and look towards the girls. They all nod and make "subtle" motions, telling me to accept.

I look over to Yuna and nod my head. "Sure. A 5-on-5 sounds fun. Are we on opposite teams or the same?" She giggles a bit. "We're the same team this time, Atsui." I actually laugh at this one. "Wow, don't you think this game will be just a little one-sided?" She giggles again. "Hey, I'm not complaining. Anyway, the game's in the gym at about 1 o'clock. See ya then!" She jogs off, leaving us alone as our food arrives. As I expected, they couldn't stop talking about my upcoming game, saying things like "Between you and Yuna, it's a given win!" or "I know you're going to do great." And of course, "Please be careful out there, Atsui-kun. Kick butt, but watch yourself." I smile at their worry. "I promise I'll kick ass and be careful, ladies."


	13. The Game Part 2

**The Game Part 2**

I put on the team's uniform, wondering just what the hell I got myself into and why I agreed to play with these girls. If I weren't so honorable I'd probably walk right out the damn door. But I'm much too nice for that. I still remember when Yuna told me what kind of game this actually was…

_Flashback:_

"_This is a WHAT?" Yuna flinches at my tone. She should, after what she told me. "It's an exhibition game against the freshman high school team…I'm sorry I didn't tell you!" I look at her like she's crazy. "Gee, I wonder why I would ever refuse. Maybe because A: I'm not even a team member, B: These guys are obviously damn good if you say they cream you girls every year, and C: I just got to this school barely a month ago!" She flinches again then grabs my shirt and gets closer to my face. I think she's making sure I know how desperate she is. "Please, Atsui! You're one of the best players we've seen in ages! I'm begging you to help us out, please!" We stare at each other for a good minute or two, and I could swear I see she's about to tear up. I can't turn this girl down. If she needs me THIS badly, what else can I say except, "I'll do it, Yuna." She gets the brightest smile on her face and glomp-hugs me. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" She then lets me go after a few seconds. "Okay, put on that team uniform I got you for your birthday and meet us in the locker room at 12:30." She runs off hopping and cheering like a little girl. I can't help but sigh as I head back to the dorm and change into the uniform and heads to the locker room._

_End Flashback_

As we run into the gym and begin our warm-ups, I catch a few glances at the opposing team, and I start seeing red. I see that high school girl that approached me before, and instantly a rush of adrenaline shoots through my entire body. I had no intention of giving anything less than my best, but after seeing who was on the high school team, I may just be a little better. The refs call the teams to their positions as the 2 team captains square off for the tip-off. Normally, that'd be Yuna, but she knows I can jump higher than she can, so today, I'm leading the jump. I see that the blonde who talked trash was number 17, and she was right in front of me. "I told you it wasn't over, Atsui. Who knows? Maybe this game will help you figure out you belong with real ladies, not a bunch of ankle-biting babies." Okay. That tears it. This bitch is going DOWN.

The horn sounds, we jump, and it's our ball. Yuna makes her way down court, and right as she's about to be stopped by the defense at the 3-point line, she shoots. What in the hell is she thinking? Then I realize where I am: 3 feet from the goal. I jump as high as I can, grab the ball, and slam dunk for the first 2 points of the game. The crowd screams like crazy at that alley-oop. High school team gets the ball, and passes it down court as we make our way in a defensive formation. By the time they make their way to the 3-point line, I'm already putting on massive defensive pressure while still remaining legal. She tries to pass it to a teammate which gets stolen by one of us. She runs like crazy back down court and shoots at the 3-point line for a defining swish. 5-0, and it was barely 2 minutes in.

The game continues going at a similar pace with us in the lead at 35-29 at halftime. As we make our way to the lockers, Yuna pulls me aside, away from everyone else. "Atsui, you are the best, you know that?" I can't help but smile and blush at the compliment. "I may be the leader, but we're all killing it. Not just me." She shakes her head. "No, Atsui, if it weren't for your crazy defense and long range shooting, we'd be getting creamed right now. And let's not forget your knack for spotting weaknesses IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAME." "Okay, okay, I get it. But it's not over yet. Remember, there's a whole other half to play, but we're playing our game. So long as we keep doing that, it's in the bag." We smile confidently and shake hands. "Let's kick some high school ass."

After halftime is over, we file out of the locker room, feeling confident that we will win. This time, it's Yuna facing off against a high schooler in the tip-off, but this one is closer to Yuna's height, so our chances are good. The horn sounds and we get ball again as we make our way down court. During halftime, we came up with an interesting strategy; we continuously pass it between ourselves, not giving the defense a time to get a solid footing. I get ball and take the shot, and it looks like it's not going to make it, but that's when Yuna hops up and alley-oops my shot, much like I did with hers in the beginning of the game. You get what you give, I suppose. Anyway, we continue playing like we have, and by the time the quarter ends, it's 59-52. We head back to the benches to recuperate and go over our strategy.

"Okay, girls, listen up. We're still winning, but there's still one quarter left. Now think for a sec. Think about all the times they beat you, the times they humiliated you, and especially the times they bullied you. I honestly can't think of a better way to repay them than by whooping their asses in this game. So let's show them that middle school spirit, alright?" They all cheer, "YEAH!" We all head back onto the court and it's our ball once again. Yuna passes it to one of our teammates further down court, almost at the half court line. She takes it down to around where the foul line is, passes it back to Yuna, who passes it to me, and I shoot, hearing a beautiful swish for another 3 points. We continue playing the game until about 3 minutes on the clock, when disaster strikes.

Yuna has the ball and is making her way down court when I see the dirtiest move in ages: that high school bitch of a captain trips Yuna AND shoves her hard with her shoulder, knocking her to the floor. The ref blows the whistle on that defensive foul as we all run over to Yuna, trying to see if she's okay. I kneel down to her and put my hand on her shoulder. "You okay, Yuna?" She shakes her head with a pained look on her face. "My ankle…I think it's twisted…" I pick Yuna up bridal style and carry her to the bench and set her down gently. "They busted your ankle, so I'm gonna bust them the only way I know how." She looks up at me. "How?" I smile at her, making her blush. "Win." I head back onto the court as the ref passes me the ball, since we were the ones fouled. I pass the ball over to one of my teammates and we take it down court. Towards the hoop, I see the bitch that tripped her and a rush of adrenaline shoots through my body as I jump with a power in my legs I didn't know I had, and slam dunks it right over her head. Take that, bitch.

She growls as she passes the ball to one of her teammates. Down court, the try for another pass, which I steal. 45 seconds left. I make my way down court as fast as I can. 25 seconds. I'm not gonna make it all the way for a layup, so when I think I'm close enough, I do something I've never done before. As the clock hits 10 seconds, I jump towards the hoop. And yes, I mean Michael "Royal Airness" Jordan style. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, slam dunk. Horn blares, signaling the end of the game. Final score: 77-65. Mahora Middle School team wins. The entire team runs over to the bench and we all pick up Yuna in victory, but 2 seconds later, I'm picked up as well, and everyone is cheering their heads off. Yuna and I look at each other and we hug happily. "I told you we needed you, Atsui! Thanks so much!" I chuckle at the compliment and let her go, smiling at her. "Next time those High School Skanks give you trouble, let me know." She smirks at me. "Sure, provided you and I have a one-on-one every gym class from now on." I laugh at her request and we shake hands. It's a deal."


	14. Party and a Problem

**Party and a Problem**

For obvious reasons, 2-A decides to throw a huge victory party for the middle school finally defeating those high school bitches. Yue and I are chatting about the game as I see Yuna walking on her crutch. I excuse myself and go over to her to see how she is. "Hey, Yuna. you feeling any better?" She smiles a little. "Yeah, a bit. The nurse says I'll have to stay off it for a few days, but I'll live. Hey, awesome game, Atsui. You really gave it to those high schoolers." I chuckle and blushes a bit. "Well, the whole team did well. I was just an extra pair of hands and feet." She chuckles and shakes her head then smiles at me. "Are you kidding me? If it wasn't for you, we'd have lost big time! We owe you a ton, Atsui!" I can't help but blush at all of these compliments.

"Okay, okay, I get it, I helped you guys kick ass. Look, I'm gonna hang with Yue and the others, so I'll talk to you later. Stay off your foot, okay?" She giggles. "Kay!" She limps off on her crutch to talk to some of the other team members as I head back over Yue. "Sorry about that, Yue." She shrugs. "No big, Atsui-kun. I expected you to be pulled away a few times tonight. You were on fire in that game." I chuckle at the compliment. "Well that captain was the bitch I told you about before. You know, the one that harassed me?" She nods, knowing who I'm talking about. "Well, she was up to her usual insults right before the game started, so that added an extra little push. But when she tripped Yuna, that's when I pretty much lost it." She nods, not saying anything. I'm a little confused until a few of the team members grab me for a group photo.

They put me and Yuna kneeling next to each other in the front with both of us holding the game ball. Once the photo is done, everyone sits at the tables to eat the delicious dinner Satsuki and Lingshen cooked up for us. I keep trying to talk to Yue, but she's either ignoring me completely, or she's barely acknowledging me, so dinner on my end is a painful silence. Once I finish eating, I head out into the hallway and sit against the wall, sighing sadly. Why is she so mad at me? I didn't do anything wrong at all. If anything, I helped the girls win against the high schoolers. "Atsui-kun? Are you okay?" I look at the shy voice above me, and Nodoka is standing there looking worried about me. I sigh as I look back down.

"I honestly don't know, Nodoka-chan. I don't know what I could've done to make Yue-hime upset with me, but she's mad. She won't talk to me; she'll hardly even look at me…" She sits next to me, lays her head on my shoulder, and holds my arm in her hands. "Atsui-kun, what do you think about Yuna?" I get a little confused at her question. "Yuna? She's cool, I guess. She's high-spirited, happy, a great ball-player. Why?" She looks down a bit somberly. "I think Yue's afraid you might start liking Yuna, or maybe that you already do. She's afraid that she's losing you." I look at her shocked and confused. "What? Are you serious?" She nods. "I'm gonna have to talk to her when we get back. Think you can get Yue to meet me back at the room? We need to talk privately." She nods again. "I can try. I really hope you two patch things up." This time, it's my turn to nod. Me too, Nodoka-chan. Me too…"


	15. Makeups, Dreams, and Advice

**Make-ups, Dreams, and Advice**

It's about 9:30 and the party is still going full throttle, but I'm back in the room waiting for Yue to show up. I don't have any clue what's going on with her except the possibility of her being jealous of Yuna that Nodoka hinted at. After a few minutes of thinking to myself, I see the door open, revealing Yue and Nodoka. "I'll give you two some privacy." Nodoka leaves and closes the door behind her, leaving Yue and I standing there looking at each other.

"Hey, Yue." She looks down, seemingly shyly. "Hi…" I try again to break the huge chunk of ice between us. "You wanna sit down, Yue?" She nods silently and sits in the chair next to the couch I'm sitting on. "Yue, what's wrong? Why won't you talk to me?" She won't look at me or say anything. "Yue-hime…" "Don't call me that." I pull back a bit, taken aback at the order. "Why not?" She shuts her eyes, looking like she's about to cry. "Why don't you go running back to Yuna? You seem to like her!" I widen my eyes in shock at her outburst. Looks like Nodoka was right; she thinks I want Yuna. "Yue, I want to be with you, not Yuna." She glares at me with tears threatening to pour out of her eyes.

"Don't you lie to me! I've seen the way you act with her! You even told me you won the game because of her!" She turns away, starting to cry. So that's what is; she saw how cool Yuna and I are with each other, and thinks I like her. I can't let her think this any longer, so I do the only thing I can think of to reassure her: I grab her and pull her into a warm, tight hug. She gasps in surprise, but doesn't move an inch. "Yue-hime, Yuna and I are just friends. She's a great teammate and a fun person to play basketball with, but I want to be with you, not her. Please, believe me." She starts crying again, this time moving closer and grabbing my shirt. "Oh, Atsui-kun! I'm so sorry!" I actually smile a bit because I know that now we're okay again.

After a few minutes, she starts to calm down, so I pick her up and lay her on her bed. After tucking her in, she gently grabs my hand and smiles at me. "I'm sorry, Atsui-kun. I didn't mean to cause all this trouble…" I gently touch her cheek with my palm. "Shh. Don't worry about all of that. I'm just glad you and I are okay again. Sleep well, my beautiful princess." I plant a gentle kiss on her forehead and climb up the ladder to go to sleep, and what a pleasant sleep it was. NOT. Soon after going to sleep, I fall into the weirdest dream…

_Dream:_

_Yuna and I are in an intense game of one-on-one and we're tied 19-19. After 5 minutes of nobody scoring, we decide to do a 3-point shootout, which I won. "Jeez, Atsui, you are unstoppable, you know that?" We share a laugh. "I wouldn't say that. You almost had me this time." She walks up to me and gently grips my shirt, giggling quietly. "You sure I don't have you now?" She leans up towards me, but the weirdest part is I lean back in. Our lips touch in a soft kiss, and I do nothing to stop it…I enjoy kissing Yuna, but she's not my girlfriend. My girlfriend is…is…who is she?"_

_End Dream_

I wake up suddenly, my eyes wide open as I lay there completely still. Images from the dream fade in and out, but there is one thing I do remember: I kissed Yuna and I enjoyed it. What could that mean? I have been dating Yue for a month (even though I was unconscious for half of it) and we had one little tiff but that was nothing serious. We made up last night…but maybe that's not what the message of the dream was... I shake that thought right out of my head as I climb down and change so I can begin my morning run.

Once I'm outside, I look over and see Kaede, Fuka, and Fumika walking around. I wonder what they're up to before realizing their part of the "Out Walking Society". I run over to them saying, "Hey, good morning, ladies." They look at me and smile. "Hey, Atsui. Nice to see you so early in the morning. We were just out walking as part of the Out Walking Society. Wanna come?" I look at Kaede as she offers to let me join them. Normally I just run by myself, but she seems wise enough, so I accept. "Sure, Kaede. So long as you let me pick your brain a little for some advice." She nods as we all start walking, but she sends the twins a few yards ahead of us so we could talk a bit more privately. "So, what's going on with the first male student of Mahora Academy?" I chuckle at that title. "Quite a bit, Kaede. Honestly, I'm in a pickle here." She looks down at me (I swear this girl's tall enough to be in high school or college) in curiosity.

"What's the matter?" I hesitate a bit, suddenly nervous and embarrassed. "Well, see you know I'm dating Yue, right?" She nods silently. "Well, last night, she thought Yuna and I had a thing because she and I get along so well. But honestly, I only know her from the 2 basketball games we played, so I don't know her that well. But last night, I had a very strange dream…" She looks a little curious and worried now. "What kind of dream was it? The type that you do you not remember most of it except for certain parts?" I raise my eyebrows at the question, wondering just how the hell she was able to guess that. "Yeah…how'd you know?" She shrugs. "Just a guess. Anyway, what was the part you remember?"

I look down blushing a bit. "Yuna and I…we kissed…but I couldn't even remember that I was dating Yue." She nods, seeming to understand. "Ah, I get it. You're dating someone you care about, but your mind is telling you subconsciously that maybe you currently have more feelings for Yuna than for Yue." I look at her in shock and horror. I really hope she's wrong, but something tells me she isn't. "Atsui, I only have one piece of real advice: go with what your heart tells you, not with what you think it should tell you. One thing I suggest you do is find a nice quiet spot, sit there, close your eyes and just let your imagination run wild. Don't let anything influence it, just let it run its course." I slowly nod my head, trying to take it all in. "Maybe I shouldn't have gotten a girlfriend as soon as I got here, huh?" She chuckles at my question/statement.

"Probably not, since there's a plethora of girls to choose from, especially since you're the only guy in our age group." This time it's my turn to chuckle. "Thanks for the advice, Kaede. Say, you know any decent spots where I can try that technique of yours?" She puts her hand on her chin and looks up, probably thinking. "Hmm. Since it's so early, you can probably go just about anywhere and find a decent spot." I nod and start jogging off in a random direction. "Thanks again, Kaede!" We wave each other goodbye as I head towards one of the buildings, thinking that the roof should suffice for now, since nobody's going to be up for at least another hour or 2.


	16. Advice from the Source

**Advice from the Source**

It's been a long few days since that dream, and I still haven't managed to find a place to think, but it's time for Gym, so I should at least be able to relieve some stress. Not surprisingly, Yuna comes over to me. "Hey, Atsui! Wanna shoot around for a little bit?" I can't help but smile and nod. "Sure, Yuna. How's your leg, by the way? Is it alright, now?" She smiles at my concerned question about her injury. "It's good as new, Atsui. Thanks for asking." We start shooting around together, rebounding and talking.

"So, Atsui, how are you and Yue doing these days?" She passes the ball to me as I sigh quietly. "She and I are having problems. Every time I blink, she thinks I'm cheating on her, when I'm just talking to someone." I shoot, making a perfect shot off the backboard as she rebounds. "Well, it's kinda hard not to talk to other girls, since you're literally the only guy student in the whole school." She shoots at an angle, landing a perfect shot. "And besides, you're that kind of guy every girl wants to date." She passes it to me.

"What do you mean by that?" Around the back pass back to her as she catches it, she lands a perfect jump shot. I swear that girl should go pro. I rebound the ball as she starts explaining. "Well, let's list a few things. You're smart, you're nice, you're a gentleman, and that is really hard to find these days, you treat girls with respect, and you're pretty cute." She shoots a foul-line shot and hits it while I'm standing there blushing like crazy at all the compliments. "Is that what all the girls in class say about me?" She giggles at my question.

"More like all the girls in the school. You're pretty famous, Atsui. So maybe you shouldn't have gotten a girlfriend so quick. I hear guys like to play the field a lot so they know what they like." She shoots again, this time missing as I rebound the shot off the backboard. "Well, girls never actually approach me, and when I approach them, they turn their nose up at me. That is, before I came here. Barely a month and I've already got over a dozen girls after me. I'm so out of my element, it's not even funny, Yuna." I make my way back to shoot a 3-pointer, which I miss and she rebounds for her own backboard shot.

She giggles a bit and walks over to me and I'm frozen in my spot as she comes over. "Listen, Atsui. I think what you need is a little more freedom to have some fun. Go on dates and just enjoy yourself for a while before you tie yourself down. I know you're trying to stay faithful to Yue, but I honestly think you need some freedom to see what you really want." She and I stare at each other for what seems like forever until I smile a bit. "Thanks, Yuna. You really know how to make a guy feel better." She smiles back then leans up to kiss me on the cheek, making me blush crimson as she giggles. "No problem." She waves and runs off to change because Gym is almost over. I grab my things and walk out the door, knowing what I have to do, but dreading it like crazy.


	17. A Ninja's Wisdom

As I walk back to the dorm, I can't help but think about how the girls are going to react to me breaking up with her. Yue will be heartbroken, Haruna will likely be furious and start a horrible rumor about me (not that I'm not used to it), I can't imagine how Nodoka will react though. She'll most likely be both sad for Yue and angry at me. I honestly don't know if I can do this, or if it's even the right thing to do. Before I know what happens, I accidentally bump into someone. "Oh, excuse me. I'm sorry." "It's okay. I can tell you have something on your mind."

I look up and see that it's Kaede again. "Oh, hey there, Kaede. How's it going?" She shrugs a bit and smiles. "Pretty good on my end. I'm a bit more concerned about yours, though. How's it going with Yue?" I sigh and shake my head. "Not so good, Kaede. My heart is remaining faithful to her, but it's getting harder and harder because my eyes are going all over the place." She nods and motions for me to follow her. "Let's take a walk. I think you could use it while we get you through this." I nod and start walking with her. "From what I'm seeing, Atsui, you deeply care for Yue, but being approached by practically every girl in the school has you a bit shaken." I nod at her guess.

"That's a massive understatement. I feel like I'm trying to stand on an 8.5 earthquake with one foot." She snickers a bit. "What's so funny, Kaede?" She seems to be holding back a laugh. "It's nothing, Atsui, just how you worded that comparison made me laugh. Anyway, do you have any ideas on what you should do, or are you still confused?" I get a little quiet at this question. It's a bit of both, but I have a feeling I know what I have to do. "I think I need to break up with Yue…" Now she gets quiet, likely letting me finish whatever thoughts I have. "I love everything about her, yet…I just don't know if I can be faithful in the position I'm in. I've never been liked by girls before, so that's got me running around in circles. I'm trying to make friends here while staying faithful to Yue, but she keeps thinking I've got feelings for someone else because I get 'so friendly' with them."

She looks down at me with a curious expression. "Do you ever get 'so friendly' with other girls?" I look back up at her, getting a little upset. "Of course not! I only ever talk to them!" Kaede looks at me and holds her hands up, hoping for me to calm down. "Easy there, Atsui. No need to get worked up, I was just curious." After I calm down a bit, she starts talking again. "To be honest, Atsui, I think it'd be best if you were single. The girl-guy ratio at this school leaves you more than a little outnumbered." I actually chuckle a bit at that last part. "Oh, you got that right. But that still leaves me with 2 huge problems. 1: actually breaking up with her and having to deal with Haruna, Nodoka, and whoever else that will wanna kill me. 2: finding a place to live so I don't get attacked and/or murdered in my sleep." She puts a hand to her chin. "Hmm…that is a problem. I could always talk to them and try to smooth things over. But that still doesn't guarantee that Haruna or Yue won't try something in your sleep. They get kinda crazy when they're mad."

I nod a bit. I've definitely caught a glimpse at their angry sides, and it was not something I want to deal with. "I'm not sure if it'll help much, but I've got plenty of extra room if you want." I look at her with no small amount of surprise. "Are you serious? You're letting me room with you?" She smiles at me and nods. "Sure, I don't mind at all. I think you'd be pretty fun company. I just have to ask Setsuna if she doesn't mind." I try to remember which classmate she was. "Is she the one with the side ponytail and the sword?" Kaede nods. "That's her. She's pretty serious, but I think it's because she takes her job as Konoka's protector so seriously. So, when do you wanna do it?" I look down and think for a bit. It's going to be very hard to break up with Yue, especially with Nodoka and Haruna being so protective of each other. "If Setsuna says it's okay for me to move in, I'll do it. Until then, I want to make sure I have a place to live if I need it." She nods. "I understand. Let's head back to our rooms so we can get this over with. It's best not to let things like this linger in the air." I nod at her advice as we head back to the dorms.


	18. Sad News and New Moves

_Hey everyone, I'm so sorry I've been gone so long. I got caught up in a WHOLE LOT of stuff and ended up with the world's worst writer's block. I didn't have the heart to delete the story though, not after all the hard work I put into it. So after all this time, here's Chapter 18._

_Disclaimer: Kiba91 does not own "Negima" or any of its unique characters. That honor belongs to Ken Akamatsu._

Kaede, the twins and I trekked back to the dorms where I was going to break the heart of the girl I loved. Hopefully, Yue or her friends won't be too pissed off with me for this. It really is for the best, though. I unlocked the door and walked in to find the girls sitting around and chatting before they look up at me. At first they seem to smile before they look…I want to say nervous but it's not quite that. Kaede and the twins stand together nearby against the wall near the door as she closes it while I stand near them, quiet as a mouse. My body feels like it's going to explode; stomachache, heart's pounding, my whole body seems to flush and shiver. Yeah, I'm scared.

Haruna decides to speak up to break the awkward silence. "Uh, hey, Atsui. What's up? Any particular reason you came back here with Kaede, Fuka, and Fumika? Or did they just feel like saying hello?" I take a deep breath, dreading every second of what I'm about to do, but I have to be strong. There's no way I can keep seeing Yue under these circumstances. She's a great girl, and any guy would be lucky to have her. I'm just not that lucky. "Yue, I need to talk to you…" Yue stands up and walks over to me with a worried look on her face. I'm pretty sure she can sense what's coming, and neither of us is gonna like it. "Yue, you are the most amazing girl I've ever had the pleasure of dating. You're beautiful, intelligent, kind, protective, and strong. I'm so sorry for all of the worrying and trouble that I've caused you, Haruna, Nodoka, and anybody else." Yue looks at me with those beautiful amethyst eyes as she speaks. "I-it's ok, Atsui. I know none of it was your fault and I forgive you. But why does it sound like you're about to break up with me?" I turn away from her and shut my eyes. I just can't bear to look at her as I say this. "Bec-…Because I am, Yue-hime…I'm so sorry…but I can't date you anymore…I'm trying to be faithful, really I am. But between all of these damn girls around me and trying to jump on me everywhere I turn, the doubts that I'm having with myself and what's really fair to you, I just can't see you anymore…"

I don't hear anything for what felt like an eternity. Not crying, not screaming, I can barely hear anybody breathing right now. But I don't dare open my eyes and look at anyone; if I did, fear that I may do or say something else I'll regret. After what was most likely a minute or two, I heard Kaede speak for the first time since we arrived. "Please understand, girls. Atsui here has been ostracized by essentially everyone before coming here, and girls he's asked out have treated him quite poorly in the past. It's little surprise that he's having a hard time dealing with so many girls after him at once. In fact, things likely wouldn't have turned out the way that they did if he had dated around for a while from the beginning. At least that way he'd be more used to so many girls after him when it comes time for him to be committed and faithful to one. Anyway, for the time being, he's going to be staying in another room and get some space from things so everyone can think a little more clearly. Do you have anything already packed, Atsui?" I look at Kaede and nod my head. "Yeah, I do. Everything I had when I first got to Mahora is still packed. The presents I got from that party for my birthday isn't, though." She simply nods. "That's ok. We can grab all of that now, unless you'd rather come back for it later." Haruna then speaks up, the quietest I've heard of her since I met her. "Can you guys just get everything out and be quick about it? We still need some time to process all of this."

Kaede and I both nod at Haruna's suggestion as we quickly gather some of my gifts into my luggage bags (luckily I didn't really have a chance to unpack most of my original possessions) before resorting to a few of the larger kitchen-sized trash bags. Both Fuka and Fumika kindly take one of my luggage bags so I can hold the trash bags full of my gifts. Once we gather all of my things together, I look at the girls I had been staying with for over a month. Neither one of them seem able to look at me, nor can I blame them, so without another word, the twins, Kaede, and finally myself all exit the room, leaving the broken hearts of 3 very lovely girls behind.

I simply follow Kaede's lead as we lug my belongings into another room, which I assumed was the room she shared with Setsuna Kagurazaki (A/N: I don't know how to spell some of the characters' names, so don't flame me if I misspelled something.), who just so happened to be sitting in a chair reading a book. She looked up with no surprising amount of surprise in her eyes. "Hey, Kaede, Fuka, Fumika. Atsui, what are you doing here? And a better question is, why do you have all of your belongings with you?" Kaede jumped in, and I expected her to bluntly say what had just happened, but surprisingly, she didn't. "Atsui was having some problems with his previous roommates. I'm actually glad you're here because I wanted to ask if you minded Atsui rooming with us, at least for a little while." Setsuna shook her head, and I swore I caught a hint of a smile on her face. "No, I don't mind at all. I can tell even from a distance that Atsui is a good person." I felt a small stab in the heart at her kind words. "If I may ask, what happened that made you leave in the first place? Aren't you and Yue dating or something?" I somehow put up a fake smile and chuckle. "It's a bit complicated, I-I doubt you really wanna hear."

Remember when I thought Kaede would blurt out what had happened? Well, she didn't. The pink-haired blabbermouth twins did. "It's not complicated!" "No, we understood even from just standing there!" "Atsui dumped Yue-""-because he thought he'd cheat on her-""-and he wanted to be single again!" I swear to God, I could not have felt more mortified than in that precise moment that those 2 hyper little rascals completely hung my dirty laundry out for anyone nearby to see. Kaede instantly dropped my things and grabbed the twins, taking them somewhere out of the room, leaving Setsuna and I there in quite the awkward silence. After a few moments, Setsuna cleared her throat and broke the silence between us. "I don't normally take everything that those 2 say at face value, but is the basic gist of things that you broke up with Yue?" I nod, unable to speak at the moment. "And were you also worried about your level of faithfulness to her?" I nod again. "And now things are too awkward for you to stay with them, so Kaede offered you to stay with us?" I nod a third time as she nods right after me. "Alright. You can stay here. And I understand if you intend to date around, but please don't bring your dates here. I do so prefer to get the sleep I need so that I may properly protect Miss Konoka." I half expected and half didn't expect her answer. The half I didn't expect was her letting me stay. But after that, I just knew it'd be a matter of time before Konoka's name was brought into it SOMEHOW. But for now, I just respectfully bow to Setsuna, thankful for her kindness. "Thank you, Setsuna. I greatly appreciate this." I straighten up as we smile gently towards each other. I guess I'm getting a bit of a do-over with how I'm going to be living at this crazy-ass school.

_Wow, that chapter was longer than I expected. Poor Atsui's troubles are only beginning though. Now that he's back on the market, he's sure to be even more sought-after. But after his break-up with Yue, how will Class 3-A take it? Find out on the next "New Rules and New Romance". _


	19. Friendly Conversation

The room is dimly lit, with only a few candles around us. The way that they highlight her face brings out her true beauty; pale skin, dark eyes with matching hair in a side ponytail. Setsuna Kagurazaki speaks to me in a soft voice. "Are you ready for this, Atsui? This is a big moment…for both of us…" I nod at her question. "I know…but I'm ready…the time is right…but…this is the first time I've ever done this, so I hope you forgive me if I don't do this right…" She gives me a small, beautiful smile and leans a little closer, making me a little more nervous than I already was. "It's ok…you can back out if you want. I promise that I won't think any less of you." I smile softly and shake my head. "No…I'm gonna do this, and it's gonna be right." We smile at each other as I lean in, slowly move my hand closer, savoring every moment before… "Checkmate." My rook, bishop and queen pieces trap her king in an impossible position as I claim victory.

She snaps her fingers as she admits defeat. "Damn, I almost had you. If I had taken that rook before it took my queen, I would've had you." I chuckle at her proclamation. "That's an interesting theory, Setsuna. But it was your own fault that you forgot that my rook was sitting there." She laughs along with me, knowing I was right, but is a good sport. "I know, I know, Atsui. I never knew you were so good at chess. You're a man of many talents, aren't you?" I can't help but blush at her compliment. "You're too kind, Setsuna. But remember, I didn't have a lot of friends growing up, so I took to a few hobbies. And things that make me use my mind as well as my hands are often some of my favorites." She nods as she listens to my little explanation as we put away the pieces and board. "That certainly makes sense. Although, I do wonder one thing, if you don't mind my asking." I pick up the box that now holds the chess set as I put it on the shelf with the other board games. I'm actually surprised that Setsuna and Kaede had such games, yet I'm not. Now that I think about it, strategy games like these do tend to help keep one's mind sharp. I turn to her, wondering what she's thinking about. "I don't mind at all, Setsuna. What's on your mind?" She stands up and sits on her bed, looking at me with a curious expression on her face.

"Well, I was wondering, why in the world did people not like you before? I mean, you're intelligent, funny, and pleasant to be around. I'm someone who's constantly on guard, yet I feel as though I can relax around you. So if I of all people feels comfortable with you, why didn't anyone else?" I look away, thinking to myself about all of the people that have treated me wrong in life…food and objects thrown at me, insults, assaults, and other various forms of abuse in my admittedly short life. I sigh heavily before I answer her. "Setsuna, I've been trying to figure that out ever since I was a boy…I've always tried to be a good person to people…but all I ever got was, well, you can probably imagine. It wasn't until I heard about Mahora from some people talking about it in town, so I came to talk to the dean. Little did I know at the time that this place was an all-girl's school; I just thought I was accidentally in the girl's section of the campus or something. But sure enough, I found out that only female students attended. I managed to talk to the dean and he graciously let me take an entrance exam, saying that as long as I scored 80% or above, he'd let me attend as the first male student in Mahora's history. Needless to say, I passed, filled out some paperwork, met Professor Negi, and the rest is history."

I didn't hear anything from her for a few moments before I looked at her. She seemed to be rubbing her eyes and then her temples as she sighed. "I don't know…what the hell those ignorant fools were thinking…you are easily one of the nicest men I've ever met in my life, and to hear such…atrocities done to you, just…irritates me to no end…" She looked up at me with sympathy and what I thought was a bit of care in her eyes. "I'm so glad that you're here now and away from those fools, Atsui. Your talents, morals, and character traits are well-appreciated with girls like us. And let me know if anyone messes with you." She paused and grabbed her sword from her bed, held the hilt and pulled the sword a couple of inches out of its sheath. "I'll back you up in a heartbeat." I couldn't help but smile at her declaration. On the surface, she seems quiet and reserved, almost cold towards everyone. But underneath that tough exterior is a pretty nice young lady who's quite independent, protective and strong. I can definitely get used to having her, and the kind, wise, and beautiful Kaede as roommates.

"I am sorry that things didn't work out with Yue, though. You two did seem quite taken with each other…" I look down and sigh at the memory of what Yue and I had, short though as it may have been. "Thanks, Setsuna…and I'll be ok. I was beginning to doubt myself and I'd much rather we be apart before I did something I really regret. Maybe that makes me a playboy, maybe it makes me a coward, I don't know. But I do believe I made the best decision given my current situation." I look at her as she nods. "I must agree; being in a committed relationship in a school with nothing but girls would be quite the challenge, I'd imagine." I can't help but smile a little at how understanding she is. "Especially when said girls like my current roommates are so beautiful." It takes everything I have not to laugh at the pink blush on her cheeks as she turns away, almost shyly. "Atsui, let's not go quite so far as to say such things as that. Besides, you're the only guy anywhere close to our age aside from Professor Negi within miles. You're the most eligible bachelor on campus right now." I laugh at how she tries to change the subject, but I decide to humor her. "I see what you mean. I'm still trying to get used to the whole 'flirting and dating' thing. I don't wanna look like a player, but I don't want to confine myself either." She seems to understand what I mean by this. "I'd have to say, you likely wouldn't look too bad if all you plan to do was go on dates, and occasionally kiss a girl. However, there's really no saving you if you go much farther than that." I immediately shake my head and hold my hands up in defense. "Absolutely not. I will NEVER go that far until I'm married. That's one of my top 5 most important rules for me." I'm not surprised at her piece of advice; I'm grateful for it. Now I know for an absolute fact how I can at least make the most of this situation.

"Off that topic for the moment, where in the world is Kaede? I haven't seen her since she and the twins left after helping me lug all of my stuff here earlier." She didn't seem surprised that Kaede hadn't returned. "Oh, she's probably with the twins right now. Every so often she'll stay with the twins for the night to keep an eye on them." I smile a little at the knowledge of how Kaede watches over Fuka and Fumika. "She really cares about those two, huh? They formed a club together, I heard Kaede teaches them ninja lessons sometimes, and now I hear she stays with them sometimes." Setsuna seems to smile back at what I said. "I think those two see Kaede as a big sister. They admire how intelligent and mature Kaede is while she's naturally protective of the twins." I nod at her explanation. "That makes sense." I let out a small yawn as I stretch my back, starting to feel sleepy. "I'm gonna turn in early, Setsuna. It's been an emotionally exhausting day, so I'll just crash on the couch if that's alright." She simply smiles and goes to the closet, returning a moment later with two blankets and a pillow. I gratefully take them out of her hands. "Thanks, Setsuna. I appreciate all of this, I really do." She just smiles and nods. "Don't sweat it, Atsui. You're a good guy, so I don't mind sharing space with you for a while. Good night." I smile as I lay the pillow down before wrapping the blankets around me while she talks. "Sweet dreams, Setsuna." I close my eyes and almost immediately find myself in dreamland.

_No, Atsui did not start flirting with Setsuna having just broken up with Yue; he isn't a player. He simply appreciates Setsuna for who she is as a person, and they've been alone for hours, so of course they've learned to feel comfortable with each other. I have a few ideas how to do the next chapter, but I'm not sure which would be best, so I'm mulling it over. One last thing: I do not own Negima or any of its characters. That honor goes to Ken Akamatsu and all those who work with him. Atsui, on the other hand, is mine. And no, he is NOT the same Atsui from "Naruto". In fact, I came up with the name long before he was introduced in the English manga. Please everyone, R&R. I need reviews so I can improve. CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM ONLY; NO FLAMES!_


	20. So Much for a Normal Day

I woke up feeling quite refreshed after that great night of sleep. I don't think I even dreamt last night; just peaceful bliss. I sat up, stretched and yawned quietly so as not to wake up anyone else in the room. I look around only to find that nobody's around. The beds are made, no sound anywhere, so I must be all alone. Then I remembered: Kaede stayed with the twins last night, and I think Setsuna sometimes went to see Konoka in the mornings. I get up, straighten the couch and fold the blankets before making my way into the bathroom with a change of clothes in my hands. After about ten minutes of grooming, I make my way out, ready to see what the day has to offer.

After I make sure I have everything; water, gym clothes, basketball, mp3 player, light training weights which are being worn already, I head out of the room. I eventually make my way to the basketball court, put my belongings down, and start warming up with a few random shots before I hear a very familiar voice. "So, taken my advice there, single guy?" I turn my head, and sure enough, there's Yuna wearing her basketball uniform and a ball in her hand. I chuckle at her question which sounded more like a statement. "Yuna, if you already know I'm single, then you should know the answer to that question." She just chuckled and rolled her ball to the side where she seems to have placed her belongings. "Who said I knew you were single? Maybe I was just makin' a joke. But you're right, I heard." I could only think of one way she had heard so quickly after the fact. "Haruna?" Yuna just nodded. I knew it.

"So, now that we got that slightly unpleasant bit of news out of the way, how 'bout a game?" I look at her with an expression that said 'You already know the answer to that'. She chuckled and answered, "Figured as much. How about to, say…20?" I nod, knowing it's a good score to get some exercise. "Sounds pretty good to me; I need to get some exercise anyway." We both smirk at each other, get into position where she's on defense, and the game is on.

About 15 minutes into it, we decide to call it a draw, since we were both tied at 17 and nobody could score anymore. We both went to the bleachers and sat down, sore, sweaty and out of breath, but still smiling after the fun we had. "Great game, Yuna. You should consider going pro someday. You have some serious skills." She chuckles a bit breathlessly as she smiles at me. "I could say the same to you, Atsui. Whoo, you gave me one helluva work out. I'm gonna hit the showers and grab a bite to eat. Wanna come?" I shake my head, politely declining her offer. "No thanks, Yuna. I'm gonna head off on my own for a while. I need some quiet time for a while." She nods, seeming to understand what I mean before we exchange goodbyes, gather our belongings and go our separate ways.

After a decent walk, I find myself in front of the library, hoping like hell that Yue isn't the one checking out the books today. I take a deep breath, decide to just bite the bullet, and walk inside. I walk around quietly, noticing that nobody's around, so I decide to head over to the manga section. The place is freaking ginormous, so it takes me about 10 minutes of walking just to find the manga section. I turn past one of the bookshelves and guess who I bumped into? "Ah! A-Atsui-kun, I-..I'm so sorry…" she looks down, almost as though she can't bear to look at me. Seeing her so soon after I just broke up with someone she considers a sister, and hearing the shy pain in her voice, I feel as though she's pulling at my heartstrings. "No, it's ok, Nodoka…I didn't mean to bump into you. Are you ok, though?" She keeps her head down, her blue hair covering most of her face as she nods and speaks quietly. "Mm..mm-hmm..I-I'm fine, Atsui-kun…" I bite the inside of my lip as she speaks. It feels as though she's pulling my heart out, begging me to cry because she might. I don't know what it is about this girl that makes me feel the way that I do. Every moment I'm with her, she just makes me want to pull her into my arms and just hold her…Yue has hardly made me feel quite like this, yet Nodoka has every time I'm anywhere near her. I don't know how much more of this I can take before I do or say something I regret. "I'll just leave you to what you were doing, Nodoka. Again, I'm really sorry about bumping into you the way that I did." I try to walk around her without looking at her too much, and as I'm about to walk away, I felt a tug on the back of my shirt. "P-please…Atsui-kun…don't leave…"

I immediately freeze on the spot. This should not be happening; Nodoka grabbing my shirt from behind, asking me not to leave. One part of me makes me think of Yue with the way that she said that…what Yue may have wanted to say but was afraid to… "A-Atsui-kun…I-I need you to come with me, please…" She walks from behind me and goes off in some direction with me only a few steps behind her, wondering just where we're going. We ended up walking for the better part of 20 minutes, deeper and deeper into the library. I keep wondering how in the hell this place was so big, when I remember someone mentioning that this library's bookshelves went on for miles, while Library Island on the other hand was so massive, that to this day, nobody knew just how big it truly was. We eventually stopped at a bookshelf, went into the aisle, and just stood across from each other in silence. The longer we stand there silently, unable to really look at each other, the more I worry about just why in the world she brought us so deep into the library that nobody would likely find us…

_Boy, just when you thought Atsui was gonna catch a break, huh? Don't worry, I'm not gonna have everyone kill him for breaking up with Yue; I like this story way too much to end it like that. Hell, there's really no telling just how far or how long I'll take this story, so I'll just keep going until I feel like stopping. Or at the very least, make a sequel to this story. Anyway, we all know I don't own this story by now. Ken Akamatsu and his team do. I don't know if I'm supposed to put the disclaimer in the beginning or the end, but as long as it's here, does it really matter?_


	21. The Gentle Heart of a Shy Bookworm

_Holy crap, this is the third chapter tonight! A new personal best! Anyway, now Atsui and Nodoka are completely alone deep within the shelves of the enormous library. Why in the world has Nodoka pulled Atsui this far away from possible prying eyes? You're about to find out. Oh one last thing, I'm doing the disclaimer now so I don't forget. Disclaimer: Kiba91 does not own Negima or any of its characters. That honor belongs to Ken Akamatsu and his team. I simply own Atsui Dekitane._

We stood there, barely looking at each other for what felt like an eternity, but when I subtly glanced at my watch, I found it's barely been 2 minutes. "U-um, mm, A-Atsui-kun…" I look up at her as I hear her speak for the first time in a good few minutes, taking in her body language. Her arms are held in front of her while her finger touches her lips, she alternates between looking at me and looking away, she almost looks as if she wants to shrink back within herself. "Yes, Nodoka? What's on your mind?" She again alternates between looking at me and looking away. "U-um…I…I just wanted you to know that…I…understand what happened with Yue…" I look at her in utter shock. She understands? She's not here to have various members of the class kill me? I think I need to hear more.

"Well…y-you see, I… I know you never wanted to hurt her…you just wanted to avoid any more pain by letting her go…a-and…and I…I wanted to…thank you for being so kind to her…" So is that all? She wanted to thank me for being kind to Yue and tell me she understands my motives? No…no way this is all. She wouldn't have dragged me on a 20-minute walk into the library just for that. She could've said that when I had first bumped into her. No…there's more. I just need her to tell me. The poor girl looks like she's about to break down if she doesn't. "Thank you for understanding, Nodoka. It actually makes me feel a little better knowing that you do. But…there's a reason why you dragged us all the way here. Please, Nodoka, tell me what's wrong." She looked up at me with I could clearly see was shock, but I could also swear I saw a hint of fear in those eyes of hers before she starts fidgeting.

"Um… Uh-A-Atsui-kun, I… I-I-I just…mmm…I-" I couldn't take anymore at that point. This poor girl looks like she's about to have an emotional breakdown. Before another moment passes, I wrap my arms around her in a warm embrace. "Ah! Uh-ah- w-A-Atsui-k-kun…w-w-what are you…" "Shh… It's ok, Nodoka…just calm down…I can't stand seeing you in so much pain like that…just let yourself calm down and then tell me what's on your mind. Take all the time you need." I can hear the poor girl panting and shaking like a leaf, as though she's about to be assaulted or something. Before long, though, she eventually starts to relax with me, just like I hoped she would. "Mmm…Atsui-kun… you…you feel…so warm…I-I…I feel so safe…mm…" It feels as though every time I hear her voice, she pulls more and more at my heart…in fact, her small, delicate fingers are already gripping at my shirt. And for someone so soft and delicate, she seems to have quite the grip.

I pull back a little, not so I'm letting go, but just so I can look at her more easily. "Ok, Nodoka…can you tell me what's wrong now?" I pause as she looks up at me with those beautiful dark amethyst eyes. There's something about the way that she's looking at me now…it's making my mind almost a complete blank. I ever so hesitantly touch her cheek with my fingers; as expected, her skin is so soft and smooth…it feels delicate, like she could shatter if I'm not careful. "Ah! O-oh…mmmm…" After only a moment to get over what I'm guessing was surprise, she seemed to lean into my hand a little bit. I gently stroke her cheek a little more as I hear her sigh with content. "Mmmm…Atsui-kun…your touch… it's so warm…you're so gentle with me, that I-…I…" My hand slowly and gently moves down to her chin and gently tilts her head up so I can look into her eyes. "What is it, Nodoka? What do you want to say?" She held a small look of surprise when I lifted her head before her eyes melted into an expression that seems vaguely familiar to me, but I can't remember where. "Ah…I…I…" Before we seem to realize it, our faces are slowly nearing each other's, but neither of us made any motion to stop. Another second later, I felt my eyes close and my lips touch hers. They were so soft, delicate and warm…just like her…she tasted sweet like candy, but almost as addictive as morphine.

After a few moments, which really felt like an eternity, we slowly broke apart, looking deep into each other's eyes. She whispered breathlessly, "A-ah…A-Atsui-kun…uh-ah…I…" She suddenly looks down and lays her head on my chest. "Mmm… Atsui-kun…c-could…I-I…y-you…" I wrap my arms around her and hold her close. She has something that she wants to say so badly, I can tell. But she's just so scared…why? Why is she afraid? "I-I…I w-want…to be…with you…f-for a while…" I widen my eyes at what she just said. She wants to be with me for a while? What exactly does that mean? Does she wanna date me, just stay with me for a few hours, what? "What do you mean 'for a while', Nodoka?" She just gripped my shirt more tightly and my arms instinctively held her more tightly. "Just…please… Atsui-kun…j-just…hold me for a while…please…" I can hear her starting to cry as she practically begs me to hold her in my arms. I hold her tightly without hurting her, letting her know that I'm here when she needs me to be. I don't know what this moment will mean for us, but I'm ready for it either way.

_Goodness gracious, what is it with me, romance, and drama? And I'm sorry, I know he just broke up with Yue, but I've had a soft spot for shy, adorable ones like Nodoka, and especially Hinata from "Naruto". I'm unsure where I'm going with the story after this. I mean, I just posted chapters 19-21 all in the course of a single night, so I may take a small break to sleep. Look forward to the next chapter with dramatic romance. R&R people! I need reviews!_


	22. Love from Shelves to Trees

_Holy crap, it's been a lot longer than I anticipated since I last posted. Things have gotten absolutely crazy with school and whatnot. But here it is, Chapter 22. And I promise, I don't own ANY of Negima's plotlines or characters. Ken Akamatsu and his brilliant team take that honor._

I honestly don't know how long I've been holding Nodoka in my arms. Ten minutes? Twenty? Not even that long? Who knows anymore? All I know is that fresh off my breakup with Yue, I find myself deep in the library catacombs with her best friend in my arms right after kissing her. I'm still wondering her true reason for bringing me all the way back here, as well as to why she didn't run away or slap me when I kissed her, and instead just begged me to hold her in my arms for a while. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

"Mmm…Atsui-kun…you're so…you're so warm…" I swear I never will get used to that small voice of hers…it's as though everything about her is pulling me in no matter what either one of us does. "Nodoka-chan…what's on your mind? Tell me, please. Why did you bring us so deep into the library? Why do you want me to hold you so much? Please, Nodoka, you have to tell me what's going on." I feel her tug on the front of my shirt and nuzzle closer to me as she whispers, "Atsui-kun… I-I…I…I've been…I've had feelings for you…for so long…I…I just wanted to be with you, Atsui-kun…" I widen my eyes and barely manage to hold back a gasp as she tells me this. Nodoka…likes me? Wait a minute… that must mean that…did she…?

"Nodoka…back when you first saw Yue and I in the library and told you we had gotten together…you hid your face behind your hair…was this why?" I hear her gasp a little and tighten her grip a little more as she nods in my chest. "Mm-hmm… I…I was so sad that I…I lost my chance with you before I even had one…and so…I just…I thought I could be happy for you two…I'm so sorry, Atsui-kun…" she starts to cry as I hold her in my arms, trying to wrap my head around what she had just told me. Not only has she had feelings for me since around when we first met, her best friend had basically stolen me from her without even realizing it. Now that I think about it, there was this aura of sadness or disappointment around her masked in her smile. She let herself be hurt so we could be happy… I've never felt so disgusted with myself in my entire life…

"Atsui-kun…" I look down at her as she looks up at me with those big, beautiful eyes. "Yes, Nodoka-chan?" I see tears begin to well up in her eyes as she leans up towards me. Before I know it, I lean down towards her and our lips meet for a second time. Those soft, sweet lips of hers send shivers up my body as I feel her hands slide around to my back and grip the back of my shirt. Her scent, her taste, her touch, everything about her pulls me in and makes my mind a total blank as we take in this intimate moment. After what felt like an eternity, our lips finally part but we remain in the embrace as our foreheads lightly rest against each other. I can't believe I'm in this situation right now; me, Nodoka, hidden together within the catacombs of the library's enormous and seemingly endless shelves, I almost feel like I'm being brought back to the day I first arrived… What if it were Nodoka that I had gone back to organize the books with… what would've happened then? To be honest, who the hell would ever know? All I know is that I'm here now, and now, I let out a small chuckle as she tilts her head in confusion. "Hmm? What's on your mind, Atsui-kun?" I gently smile at her and touch her cheek again. "I just remember thinking before…I thought I'd be jealous of the man that earned your heart, and here you are saying it's me…I'm really happy, Nodoka-chan…" I see her widen her eyes and gasp a little as I smile at her, then she pulls us into another embrace that I'm more than happy to return. This shy, intelligent, beautiful bookworm of a girl laid her heart out on the table for me, and I'm more than happy to accept her feelings and treasure them as I did with Yue. I don't have a lot of experience dealing with girls, so all I'm doing is letting my heart guide me. So far, it's working pretty well.

"Mmm…Atsui-kun… I feel like I'm dreaming…am I?" She looks up at me with hope and a touch of fear in her eyes. "I was wondering the same thing, Nodoka-chan. If this is a dream…" I let out a small smile as my hand gently cups her cheek. "I don't want to wake up." She widens her eyes a little before smiling and leaning into my hand as she closes her eyes. "Mmm…oh Atsui-kun…I love the way you touch me… you're so sweet and gentle…" She moves her hands from around my back to my chest as she starts squeezing the front of my shirt again. She's so small…everything about her makes me want to just protect her from anything that can hurt her. But for now, I realize where we are and that we should find more comfortable place to relax. "Hey Nodoka-chan, what do you say we head someplace else, hm? I love being in the library and all, but this isn't the most romantic spot to be with someone you just confessed your feelings to. Know any other nice, quiet, relatively private places?" She looks down for a few moments, and I'm guessing she was thinking of a place when she suddenly looked up and smiled at me. "I know just the place, Atsui-kun. It's perfect for whatever we could want." I smile back at her, amazed that she thought of something so quickly. "That's awesome, Nodoka-chan! Where did you have in mind?" She just closed her eyes in a bright smile that made my knees weak as she answered, "Just pack enough clothes for a few days and I'll take care of the rest."

_-Time Skip 6 Hours Later (A/N: Sorry for people who are more detail-oriented than I am, but I haven't been camping since I was about 6 years old, so please just enjoy the cute couple for now.—_

Now Nodoka-chan and I find ourselves lying in our tent snuggled together under the blankets. It took about an hour for us to put the whole campsite together, and luckily we were both smart enough to bring some fish, pans, water, spices, a cooler, and a few other supplies. When Nodoka-chan said that we were going camping, I knew we'd need a few extra things just in case, and so far, I had been right. We each have a sleeping back, a blanket, and a pillow, so what we decided to do was lay the sleeping bags below us, the blankets covering us, and a pillow for each of our heads. We had already eaten some of the fish we had bought and decided to just cuddle together for the evening and enjoy each other's warmth.

We're lying on our sides, curled together under the blankets; my arms wrapped around her while her hands are curled against my chest. "Comfortable, Nodoka-chan?" I feel her nod into my chest before she looks up at me with her small, beautiful smile. "Mm-hmm. I'm always comfortable with you, Atsui-kun…you're so warm…I always feel so warm and safe when I'm with you…" She snuggled a little closer to me as I held her a little more tightly, before moving my hand to gently stroke her soft cheek. She closed her eyes with a light smile as she laid her soft, delicate hand over mine. "Mmm…oh Atsui-kun… I love the way that you touch me… you're always so gentle with me…" I feel my heart start to race and stop continuously with the way she talks to me and touches my hand. She's so soft and delicate…I can't help but be gentle with her. "I just love being with you, Nodoka-chan… you're so beautiful and kind and intelligent…and that delicate, loving spirit of yours is just… I can't even describe it but I love it…just as I love everything about you, Nodoka-chan." She looks surprised by what I said before she leans closer and whispers with that soft voice I've come to love. "Atsui-kun…you're always so warm, sweet, and gentle… I feel my heart pounding right now… it's screaming for me to ask you to be with me… to hold me…" She pauses and bites her lips before her voice drops to an even quieter tone. "To… to kiss me… Please… A-Atsui-kun…p-please kiss me…" Before I even realize what's happening, I feel my lips touch softly with hers as she kisses back with a little more energy than I had expected. We ended up kissing for a minute or two before she suddenly laid her head on my chest and started to cry her poor eyes out. It felt as though it were something she had cried out for desperately for so long, and here I am giving her what she needed, so I just held her in my arms for the night.


End file.
